Stained Glass Rose
by ASillyDreamer
Summary: Quasimodo falls for a young woman who is the niece of a very prominent widow, visiting Paris so that she might marry her daughter off to an arrogant prince who is in the city looking for a wife. QuasiXOC This fic is based off of the Disney movie.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I'm re-posting this because I didn't like the way I had it written before. The prologue was too long so I got rid of it. I think I like it a little better now.

I wrote this mainly because I think Quasimodo deserves some love. He doesn't get enough. I've been kind of obsessed with this movie lately and this character and reading the book by Viktor Hugo just made it all the more worse, so I decided to write a fic. It dos take after the Disney movie.

Also, I know Disney made a sequel to The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, but I personally refuse to accept the existence of Disney sequels on the basis that they're awful. If you liked the sequel then I apologize. Your welcome to pretend that this fic takes place before HOND2.

Anyways, on with the story…

**Stained Glass Rose**

_I've been roaming around_

_Always looking down at all I see_

_Painted faces fill the places I can't reach_

_You know that I could use somebody_

_You know that I could use somebody_

_Someone like you_

_And all you know_

_And how you speak_

_Countless lovers undercover of the street_

_You know that I could use somebody_

_You know that I could use somebody_

_Someone like you_

_Off in the night_

_While you live it up I'm off to sleep_

_Waging wars to shape the poet and the beat_

_I hope it's gonna make you notice_

_I hope it's gonna make you notice_

_Someone like me_

"Use Somebody" Kings Of Leon

Chapter One:

The sun had not yet risen over the streets of Paris. Instead there was the glow of twilight, slightly dimmed on this morning because of the rain from the previous evening.

A pre dawn chill settled in the drafty bell tower of the Notre Dame as if it were a living creature, sidling it's way up into the cathedral and making itself comfortable. It touched the bells, which were tangled in their ropes and were catching the dusty light of early morning, it touched the ravens nesting within the many cracks and crevices in the tower, it touched the gargoyles, still drying from the rain, which had lasted for several days and had seemed unending and finally it reached the bell ringer, lying under his meager blanket which settled on the strange angles of his body with awkwardness.

Quasimodo was already awake; he had been waking up at around the same time every morning for years. He remained still, watching the sky lighten through the openings in the tower. Occasionally he'd sigh.

After a while he sat up, in the poor light he might've resembled some large and frightening creature, with the way his body moved and the odd shadows it made. He threw the blanket off of him and while shivering, pulled a long sleeved plain white tunic out from the small amount of garments he owned and dragged it over his disproportioned shoulders.

After hoisting himself up he climbed the ladder that took him to the bells.

It was three weeks before the 6th of January and this meant that it was nearly time for the Festival Of Fools again. It didn't feel like it had been a year since he had first set foot outside the cathedral. A lot had changed since then.

He still lived in the bell tower, but now it was more out of habit then anything. The archdeacon (1) had been kind enough. He had offered him a room outside of the bell tower, which Quasimodo had accepted, but after sleeping in it for a couple nights he had felt claustrophobic and had asked to return to his previous dwelling.

And he still rang the bells. He'd also picked up a few more chores around the cathedral in the lower floors, which was nice because when Frollo had been his master he was banned from venturing into the lower levels without him present because it caused uneasiness among the visitors of the Notre Dame.

The fact that he was no longer confined to the church made it easier to wake up every morning in the bell tower. He could appreciate the church when it wasn't his prison.

This didn't necessarily mean that he was wholly accepted on the streets of Paris. It took a long time to change a person's mind and people (As in the mass or the crowd, or in many unfortunate cases, the mob) were even harder.

The gypsies seemed to accept him, but they already lived outside of society and therefore, had an easier time accepting other people who didn't quite fit in. In any case he was friends with Esmerelda, who was well admired by her people. And there was Clopin as well, who was the king of the gypsies and seemed to get some amusement from his company. Whether this was a good thing or not, Quasi didn't know.

As for the common folk, they could be placed in three groups based on how they had received him.

In the first group the people were kind enough, although in most cases it was the awkward kindness that a person showed to the terminally ill. They seemed to wish him no ill will, but there was an air of discomfort about them.

There were one or two exceptions. The young girl Aimee (The name I am giving to the small french girl at the end of the first film) had taken rather a liking to him and often visited, sometimes bringing him flowers or other things to show him. There were one or two others as well.

The second group, he found, seemed to be even more frightened of him then they had been before. This was partly because they saw more of him now and partly because a rumor had started that he had, himself, pushed Frollo from the Notre Dame.

It was only too easy to believe too. Many of the townspeople had seen him swing down and snap Esmerelda's ropes as if they were nothing (Not to mention the chains, sending the pillars crumbling around him) and had seen him pick up her pyre with one arm and swing it towards the approaching soldiers. In this way, it seemed that he was feared for the same reason he had been accepted.

And the last group was largely unchanged. Some people just don't. It can't be helped.

Quasi reached the top of the stairs and limped over to the greatest bell, Big Marie. He wrapped his large fingers around the rope that fell from her and waited, looking for a moment out at the horizon. When he seemed satisfied he hauled on it. The massive 13-ton bell tolled loudly, ringing in the waking hour. He put all of his strength into this task, pulling the rope down and crouching with it and then allowing the massive bell pull his body back up with it. As he did this, the sun rose, touched his massive shoulders and set off his silhouette.

And with the sun and the tolling of the bell the rest of the cathedral awoke.

The three gargoyles, Viktor, Hugo and Laverne stirred at their place on the edge of the great building.

Laverne, slightly perturbed, wiped a bit of pigeon leavings off of her shoulder. One of the birds had been startled by the bell had become briefly nervous before fleeing.

"Blasted things" She said as a rain of feathers fell around her. "It's a wonder they're smart enough to breed."

"Hey, if you had to be smart to breed, humans couldn't do it." Hugo said while nudging Viktor who gave him a disapproving look before carefully ignoring him.

"Ah, but it's a lovely morning." Viktor said brightly. "Finally the rain has stopped, I was beginning to think I'd never dry off."

"Right, and that wind, it's a wonder I haven't been weathered through." Laverne said while giving a nearby pigeon a suspicious look. It had returned after it's initial shock and was eyeing her with interest.

After a few moments, the great ringing stopped and the vibrations with it.

"I love this time of day, when the square is just beginning to fill up." Viktor said with a sigh as he eyed the distant cobbles.

And below, the square _was_ filling up, mostly with the merchants and the early risers and the monks making their way into the cathedral. Shops were being unlocked, carts were being loaded and a few beggars were sauntering into the spaces nearest to street where numerous people would be sure to see them.

Quasimodo jumped down to the wood floor below the bell tower and limped awkwardly to where the three gargoyles where leaning on the parapet.

"Morning Quasi." Hugo said as the hunchback rested his arms on the ledge. "So, what's on the agenda for today?" He added. His attention, was however on the street. Far below a cart of melons fell over. The merchant who had been loading it cursed and began to gather them up to the amusement of passerby's.

"I'm not sure." Quasi replied.

"You've been hoping to get that paint to finish off the houses on the eastern side of the cathedral." Viktor added.

Ever since Frollo had snapped on the night that he tricked Quasi into leading him to the Court Of Miracles, Quasimodo had slowly been rebuilding the tiny model that had sat for so long in the center of his dwelling. Frollo, in his fit of rage had smashed most of it. This time he was able to rebuild it better though, partly because he was able to get the supplies himself and partly because he could now visit the places he was building and see them up close.

Quasi seemed to think about this for a moment.

"I could." He said. "Esmerelda said she might stop by…I don't want to be away if she does."

"So go early." Laverne said. "You can be back in an hour if you go now."

"Half as long if you use the roofs." Hugo added, chuckling as far below, the merchant's cart was turned over again.

"I think it makes people uncomfortable." Quasimodo said. "I'll go on foot, after I replace the candles in the front hall." He said as he broke away from the parapet and turned back towards the belltower.

"Hey," said Hugo, as he leaned over the ledge slightly. A carriage was making slow progress over the cobbles and the unlucky merchant, upon seeing it grabbed what melons he could hold and retreated back into his shop. "What's going on down there?" Quasi turned back to them and leaned over to look at the square.

There came the sound of shouting from far below as the carriage stopped. A few men jumped out. Laverne sighed.

"It's Lord Bastion's men again. Figures, first nice morning in a week and he has to go and ruin the view."

Lord Bastion. As far as Quasimodo knew he was a prince of some sort, or at least related to some royal family. He was in Paris to get married. Over the months several prominent families had offered their daughters in hopes that he would choose them. So far, it seemed that he found little interest in any of them.

Lord Bastion himself was very handsome and very rich and extremely well educated and therefore was very haughty and very picky. He had also arrived in Paris after spending years in the secluded walls of his privileged school and was therefore quite sheltered.

Because of this Bastion had been appalled when he saw how packed the streets of Paris were with the gypsies and beggars. Whenever he saw any he would send his men to interrupt their performances. His men would nastily assault them. They would snatch away their earnings, rip away their instruments sometimes breaking them against the ground and would smash anything else to prevent the gypsies from continuing to perform. Quasi had observed this both while watching from above and, on occasion being among the groups that were assaulted (For now that he could exit the church, he often spent time with Esmerelda and, on occasion Clopin as they made their living on the streets)

All of this was making Clopin livid. He himself had been assaulted on one or two occasions. The tiny wooden puppet stage he often used to entertain the children of Paris had been smashed twice. Quasi knew this for sure because Clopin had come to see him on both occasions so that he might repair it. The second time he'd been shouting. In fact, he'd had a shouting match between himself and his puppet, which was quite an alarming spectacle when he really was angry.

Also, because so many of the gypsies were unable to make their usual rounds of the streets begging and dancing and palm reading, they were taking in less money. This was a blow to all of them.

And so, because Bastion had taken it upon himself to make an enemy of the gypsies, Clopin had in turn taken every opportunity to exact his revenge upon the man. And the difference between Clopin and this unfortunate prince was that Clopin was much more inventive.

Also, he had eyes all over Paris.

Clopin had given the gypsies orders to take every opportunity to put Bastion's men at a disadvantage. It wasn't uncommon to find them tied up upside down on a bridge over the river, or stuffed in a cage near the Pillory where prisoners were generally kept.

He had also had a puppet of Bastion made, which he constantly used to make fun of the man. It had gotten to the point where children giggled when the prince went past.

Despite all of this, it would seem that Clopin was not the man that Bastion hated most in the city. Quasimodo had only met Bastion on half a dozen occasions and every time he felt the absolute detestation in every word, glance and movement. If the man had had a choice between sending either him or Clopin to the gallows, Quasi was certain that it would be him. Even if, at the moment of the decision, Clopin was mocking the prince in his puppet show or mimicking him on the street.

Because of this Quasi avoided him as much as possible.

Quasi frowned as currently two of Bastion's men, both in brightly colored uniforms approached a pair of beggars. One of the beggars was wearing a blindfold. The other was apparently crippled. At the sign of trouble the blind man removed the blindfold and dealt one uniformed man an amazingly accurate blow for a man without sight and the other ran off with amazing agility for someone a moment before, had had no legs.

"Maybe I should wait to get the paint." Quasi said as the men made themselves comfortable down in the square, counting the gypsies money.

XXX

Gage Vasser was a Captain. Or he had been, once. Now he felt more like a servant. Bastion's father had sent him along to see to the affairs in Paris while Bastion himself wiled away his time doing what princes did…which was ultimately nothing.

Currently he was standing outside the Hotel de Saint-Pol(2) awaiting the arrival of a fairly prominent widow and her daughter, yet another possible wife for the prince. Actually he was leaning outside the Hotel de Saint-Pol and squinting into a light that seemed far too bright to him, occasionally massaging his temples to relieve the pain, which was a result of drinking far too merrily the night before.

Beside him stood Theobald, a portly man with thinning hair and a big red face. He was getting on Gage's nerves because he was a morning person and those who are naturally early risers always get on the nerves of those who aren't…especially when they're hung over.

"It's so pretty out today." Theobald chirped merrily. "I was getting thoroughly sick of the rain."

"Really…I could do with a few clouds myself." Gage said bitterly, while milling over the word 'thoroughly', which had been entirely unnecessary in his opinion.

"I notice the way you've been squinting into the sun. Are you feeling very well?"

"Fine, fine." Gage answered.

"Ah, look, the cart." Theobald said with enthusiasm, apparently forgetting about his companions ailments. Two carriages were coming over the cobbled streets.

"Yes, go and meet them will you. I shall stay here in the shade." The captain mumbled. Theobald stepped into the sunshine as the first carriage came to a stop. The driver leapt down and opened the door.

Gage watched wearily as a young woman stepped down, taking Theobald's offered hand with some grace.

The girl's mother exited second and both of them were led to Gage, who stood up straight and tried to smile gracefully.

"Good morning, Madame." He said with a quick bow. "We have been waiting for you. You're Adeline Beauvais, yes?"

"I am." She replied with a smile. She had the sort of smile that was nearly a sneer. She might have been good-looking woman were it not for her sharp unfriendly features.

"This must be your daughter." He added as he eyed the young woman beside her.

Gage was glad to see that this girl actually was quite pretty. It was amazing how many lavishly brought up young women had faces that put one in the mind of some of the less alluring class of animals. Anyone who thought that wealthy people were meant to be beautiful had not spent much time around them.

She was very pale and slightly plump. Not fat, but ample in a way that made one think of the word voluptuous, with the sort of body that, if presented in the right way would make any wanting man drool. She had reddish blonde hair, constructed into very careful ringlets and eyes so big and wide that they seemed to swallow up her slightly blushing round face.

The girl put her dainty white hand out. Gage kissed it quickly, trying to ignore the immense pain that came with moving his head.

"Bonjour, Madame" He said. "It is a pleasure to have you as guests. Theobald here will show you to your rooms. If you have need of anything let me know." The woman gave him the slightest of smiles before curtseying.

"And when shall we see the prince?" Ms. Beauvais asked.

"In time, Madame, He is very busy, I'm afraid. For now, make yourself comfortable."

"My servants may need some assistance unloading."

"Of course, I shall see to it." Gage said. His smiled faded as Ms. Beauvais and her daughter were ushered into the building. He looked towards the second carriage, which had been opened and was currently being emptied by a group of what might have been the saddest assortment of servants Gage had ever seen. (Ms. Beauvais was a widow. She had started out quite wealthy, but in time the money slowly drained away and with it some of the more expensive help.)

He sighed and headed towards them.

Among this small number of servants was an old man, who had stepped down from the carriage, walked a few feet in the direction from which they had come from and had stopped there, apparently staring out into nothing, two children, who looked as if they could be related because of their hair color, their extremely scrawny and wiry features not to mention the way in which they both resembled the sort of creature whose entire existence consists in hiding from things bigger then it is and a giant middle aged woman who, from the looks of her could have lifted two decent sized men in both arms.

As he approached, one of the children made an attempt to hoist a large cooking pot out of the carriage and wound up falling backwards. The cooking pot flew out of the young girl's hands and cracked on the ground. Gage sighed.

"I am certain your mistress would be displeased if she saw such carelessness." He said as he approached the girl. Before he could haul her to her feet another servant girl came up behind her and helped her up.

He stopped as the girl straightened and eyed him impassively.

"You might tell the girl to be more careful." Gage said wearily.

"It was quite worthless sir, I assure you." She said, with a slight edge to her voice.

The girl in front of him was…quite handsome. She was slightly tanned, because although it was preferable that a lady should be fair, servants had to spend more time in the sun. Her hair was dark and pulled back into a messy braid. She was skinny and the word 'modest' came to mind when describing her dress as well as her figure. All in all she was fairly average. She was pleasant to look at, but not the sort of woman likely to entice a man at a glance. Her eyes, however, were very striking. They were the color of a clouded sky when the sun was trying to break through.

"Let me and Fay carry the heavy stuff Charlot." She said as she took her eyes off of Gage. The younger girl, who was about fifteen looked suddenly very distressed.

"Oh, that's the fifth thing I've broken in the last week! Madame will have me flogged!"

"I shouldn't worry about it if I were you. I doubt she'll even notice it's gone. If she does, I'll tell her I broke it."

The girl stared at her anxiously for a moment before swallowing and nodding.

"I'll unload the rest of the pots, you take Francois inside…he's been too long in the sun I think." She said while nodding to the old man who was still staring at the road and talking to himself.

"Yes Andie." The girl said quickly and hurried away, casting Gage a quick furtive look as she did. Andie picked up the broken pot.

"Do you need any help, young lady?" Gage asked after a moment, when the girl did not appear to acknowledge that he was still standing there.

She looked up at him again. For a moment there was the briefest flicker of sardonic amusement in her fascia. It faded and once it did he wasn't sure if he had seen it at all. She shook her head.

"I'm fine, sir. You may ask Fay if she needs help, if you like but if you do she'll assume you can carry as much as her." She said while nodding at the large woman he'd noticed before. Andie grabbed a few things and headed towards the house.

Gage eyed the giant woman who had grabbed two massive sacks filled with various things and hoisted them up onto one shoulder. He shook his head and headed back towards the Hotel de Saint-Pol.

X Footnotes X

(1)Ever since reading the Hunchback Of Notre Dame, or Notre Dame de Paris, I'm aware that Frollo _was_ the archdeacon. Since this fanfic is based off of the Disney version, where he's a judge, when I say archdeacon I'm referring to the priest seen in the Notre Dame throughout the movie. I don't think he's given a name, so I'll probably have to make one up, but until then know that he is who I'm referring to when I say archdeacon. Also, if your not a fan of footnotes know that I don't expect you to have to read these exactly when they turn up in the story and I promise I wont use them too often.

(2) No idea what this place was really like. If anyone gets upset with my depiction of it yell at me and I'll change it to some place that never existed. Or, because Disney never seems all that concerned with depicting things accurately, allow some room for interpretation since this is based off of a movie that had a million inaccurate things in it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

_We can blow on our thumbs and posture  
But the lonely are such delicate things  
The wind from a wasp could blow them  
Into the sea  
With stones on their feet  
Lost to the light and the loving we need_

Still to come  
The worst part and you know it  
There is a numbness  
In your heart and it's growing

"_A Comet Appears" The Shins_

Andie was unpacking in her room. She had finally gotten a moment to do so after she had finished unloading the carriage and had seen Ms. Beauvais' horses to the stables out behind the Hotel de Saint Pol.

The size of the place was amazing. It was also far more elegant then she was used to. Going into it and seeing the grounds was like walking into a small town, somehow confined in the walls of the building. Plus there was more then one of everything it seemed, from kitchens and libraries to baths and courtyards.

Still, the Hotel de Saint Pol was nothing compared to the city itself. Andie had never been to a city before and was amazed when they'd finally arrived at Paris. The streets had been packed early in the morning with all kinds of merchants and beggars wearing colorful clothing and performing for coins and the big bells in the cathedral had been ringing practically as the sun rose.

Before unpacking, she crossed the room and opened the window, pausing briefly to admire the view. Off in the distance was the Notre Dame. Andie remembered, when she was about thirteen and was living in a small crumbling Foundlings Hospital, a friend of hers who had worked odd jobs at the place had shown her a book about architecture. He had had many books (Or they seemed like many at the time, Lord Beauvais' had a considerably larger library) and Andie took every opportunity to look through them. But this book had been different because it had had ink illustrations. She remembered seeing one of the Notre Dame. She'd thought it was beautiful when she saw it…but it was nothing compared to the real thing.

Andie broke away from the window and returned to her luggage.

Most of what Andie unpacked were the few articles of clothing she owned, a pair of practical boots, a cloak and an old worn apron etc. She quickly transferred these to an armoire, and noted that her belongings barely filled a quarter of the thing.

As far as possessions went, Andie had very few. Aside from her clothes what she did have was a small wooden box, the sort that holds items, which are entirely valueless to all but who owns them, a small very worn book, which was wrapped up in an old torn skirt, and a wooden cane. She pulled this out last and positioned it on her right side.

After going from sitting for hours on end to rushing around on the grounds of the Hotel de Saint Pol for the last forty minutes Andie's leg had begun to really ache.

Her leg had given her trouble ever since she'd broken it when she was about nine. She wasn't taken to a doctor and it never healed properly. Sometimes it got so bad that she could barely walk. Other times it hardly bothered her at all.

She put the box and the book on top of the dresser with a sigh and gazed around the room briefly. The man who'd shown her to the room had been puzzled when Ms. Beauvais had told him that Andie was to have her own quarters, sperate from the other servants. To be honest, she really wouldn't have minded sharing with Fay and Charlot. She didn't really need this much space.

There was a brief knock on the door. Andie turned and crossed the room, her cane making clunking noises on the wood floor as she did. She opened the door a bit.

"Bonjour madame." A young man at the door said. "Your mistress sent me to tell you that she wishes to see you in the drawing room."

"My mistress? Oh yes, thank you." She said as the man bowed briefly and walked off. Andie sighed again.

XXX

When Andie arrived in the drawing room Adeline was, indeed waiting for her. She was sitting in an armchair doing tapestry. Andie had often wondered about the attraction of tapestry. She'd never gotten the hang of it herself. It was a long and dull activity that, when finished became in her opinion an equally dull wall piece. Apparently it was very popular among proper young ladies. She'd come to the conclusion that this was because they were bored out of their tiny skulls and therefore would find just about anything great fun if it broke up the monotony.

"Ah, Andie, do come in." Andie approached the woman. "Are you enjoying Paris so far?"

"Since this morning? Yes maam." Adeline nodded as if she weren't really listening to the answer. After finishing a stitch she set the tapestry aside and looked up at Andie. She was wearing that sneer like smile of hers.

"You know I have always thought of you like a daughter." Andie, who couldn't decide whether this was a statement or question, raised her eyebrows a little.

"Er…you have?" What she was thinking was; _Sure, a daughter who does all of your cooking and cleaning and tends the horses and that silly girl of yours who is incidentally much more fussy then they are. _

The woman's smile widened a little.

"I know that you are my brother's daughter but…since me and Armande took you in I feel that we have treated you well enough, yes?"

Andie nodded. She'd come to live with Ms. Beauvais when she was thirteen, after the Foundling's Hospital she'd lived at for three years closed, due to a lack of money. She did all manner of odd jobs around the house and also helped the other servants with their work. And so most people assumed that she was Ms. Beauvais' servant girl. They didn't have any reason to assume otherwise. Some people might have been surprised to know that she was the woman's niece.  
When she'd come to live with her aunt and uncle it had been fairly clear that she wasn't particularly welcome there. Her aunt hadn't spoken to her brother for a long time and was not particularly happy about taking his daughter in. It didn't help that her father was still alive. She'd been that sort of foundling, the kind that was taken away rather then thrown out.

Also, she hadn't really ever gotten along with her cousin Isabelle. They were both very different. To Andie, Isabelle had always been the sort of simpering girl who cared more about her hair then the mind that was under it. Plus the girl tended to constantly say what was on her mind, which was bad if what was on your mind was foolish and Andie suspected that she practiced fainting, so that when something upset her she could faint daintily without messing up her hair. She certainly was not one to waste an opportunity to faint. No doubt Isabelle had her own negative opinions about Andie as well.

"Since your uncles death things have gotten…difficult. My money is nearly gone and our name is beginning to suffer. So, this marriage could very well be what saves us…not just me, but you and the help too." Andie snapped out of her thoughts as the woman stood and approached her.

"So, I would like you to do something for me."

"What is that, Aunt Adeline?"

"I cannot spend my energy keeping the help in line while we are here. I will be focused on Isabelle and her betrothal to Prince Bastion, so I'll expect you to do it for me."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh must you ask? Those children for starters. That stupid girl can hardly hold a thing without breaking it and the boy should probably be put away in an institution. And although Francois has been in my husband's family for years, I hardly know what to do with him any longer. The way his mind wanders I sometimes don't think it should ever come back. And as for Fay…well, a lady shouldn't use the language she uses."

"I sorry, but what do you want me to do?"

"Just don't let them embarrass me…or Isabelle." She cupped Andie's chin in her palm. "I'm counting on you…if any one of them steps out of line they'll be fired on the spot. Do you understand?" Andie nodded.

She removed her hand. As she did her fingernail scratched lightly along Andie's chin.

"Good, now be off, I expect you have much to do. Incidentally, Isabelle's best dress has been unpacked and needs to be primped. See to it please, and for god's sake don't let Charlot anywhere near it."

"Yes Aunt Adeline." Andie said as she left the room.

XXX

She was about halfway back to her room when she met Alain, Charlot's brother coming from the opposite direction. He looked slightly hunted and out of breathe, although, this was generally his default state. He tended to upset easily. When he got too upset he had a tendency of hiding in cupboards or closets. Sometimes it'd take hours to find him. Andie frowned and stopped.

"What's the matter?" She said as he came to a halt.

"Fay and one of the cooks here got into a fight. She's throwing stuff across the kitchen. He told me to push off and get Madame Beauvais." He said after he caught his breath.

"I wouldn't." Andie said quickly. "I'll handle it, you just go back to the servants quarters and finish unpacking." She started past him.

"Andie, wait, there's something else too." He said, following her. "On the way down here I saw Francois in one of the hallways. He was re-arranging all of the tapestries. "

"What? Why?" Alain shrugged. "Well…go stop him and take him back to the room with you…and give him some of that stuff Fay drinks…that should knock him out for a while." Alain nodded and hurried off.

Andie reached the kitchen, and pushed the door open in time for a flying tray to miss her by an inch and a half. It stuck in the wall by her head and made a long boi oi oing noise as it vibrated there.

She raised her eyebrows and froze long enough for her mind to register that she had not, in fact been brained by a large heavy silver tray and then in one motion slammed the door as hard as she could. Both parties paused in their argument and looked at her.

"What's going on?" She asked calmly.

"She, she's mad!" The cook shouted. He was young and had a definite air of youthful arrogance about him. His face was bright red as he pointed a single digit at Fay.

"You should have heard what he said to me, Andie." Fay said, ignoring him. "He told me that I didn't have any place in his kitchen. He called me his good woman!"

"Well, I don't even want to repeat what she called me!" The man shouted.

"You deserved it you prepubescent little git! He told me that if I behaved he'd let me go down to the market and fetch the fish!"

"She-she threatened me with a cleaver!"

"I never did!"

"What do you mean you never did, your still holding it!" Andie stepped in at this point,

"Okay, relax. Fay, please put down the cleaver." Andie said. She approached Fay and lowered her voice a little. "I know your upset but you have to remember we're not at home and this isn't your kitchen."

"That's right!" The man said. He wilted under the combined glare of Fay and Andie.

"Plus, Madame is in a wretched mood. She'd ready to fire anyone who causes trouble down here." Andie said as she turned back to Fay.

"Ha, a great loss that'd be." The man said.

"Look, sir, do you think you could maybe leave us alone for a bit?" Andie snapped at him.

"I shouldn't think so. This is my kitchen after all."

He recoiled as Fay picked the cleaver up again and took an ominous step forward.

"Fine! You…she'd better be gone when I get back!" He said as he hurried away.

"What a pipsqueak." Fay said as she set the cleaver down again. "He isn't half my age and he thinks he can order me around."

"Well…it IS his kitchen Fay."

"I didn't say it wasn't, but what am I supposed to do here if I can't cook. Do you know what he wants that fish for…a stew. A damn stew!"

"Fish stew? Well that is kind of…" Andie shook her head, "Look, it doesn't matter. If anything, maybe getting out for a while would be a good thing." Fay relaxed a little.

"Yeah…maybe." She conceded. "It has been a while since I've visited Paris. I used to live here you know…back when I was married. Okay, I'll get his fish."

"Great. And please try not to lose you temper with the help here. You know how touchy my aunt is. And threatening people with knives…is probably not a good idea form this point on." Fay smiled.

"You saw his face though, I thought he was going to wet himself." Andie smiled a little. "Why don't you go fetch your cloak and come with me?"

"Well…I ought to make sure that the others are settling in all right…and Aunt Adeline wanted me to primp Isabelle's dress…"

"Oh, that'll be here when you get back. You said yourself it'd be nice to get out and you've never seen Paris, have you?" Andie set her head to one side. She opened her mouth to say that she had too much work to do, but then she thought of all the things she'd seen just passing by the carriage window on her their way to the Hotel de Saint Pol. The street performers, the market, the buildings and the massive cathedral with that giant rose window.

"Alright." She conceded. "I'll get my cloak."

XXX

Quasimodo was sweeping at the dirt that caked the massive floor on the floor of the Notre Dame. It was generally covered with a thin layer of dust because of the amount of people who walked in and out of the church during the day. It was supposed to be the job of the doorkeeper to keep the church clean, but for the last few months Quasimodo had taken up his chores because he was in the stocks.

Whenever Quasimodo traveled into the lower levels of the Notre Dame he still wore his cloak, mostly to avoid the looks of discomfort that crossed the faces of the people visiting the church to pray. He also tried to avoid that look of utter horror that crossed the faces of anyone who hadn't met him or seen him yet.

Quasimodo pulled open the heavy door, which opened out to the street and after pausing to make sure that Bastion's soldiers had moved on, he brushed the pile of dust out onto the stairs. He turned back towards the gloom of the cathedral but stopped when someone addressed him.

"Quasi." He turned around and his face broke into a smile as he spotted Esmerelda walking across the street, her goat, Djali, trailing after her. He raised his hand a little.

"Good morning." He said when she got closer. The coins on her skirt jingled as she mounted the stairs.

"Morning. Thought I'd come to see you before the street was overrun with scum." She said as she eyed the street. "It seems like Bastion's men are everywhere."

"Have they bothered you lately?" Quasimodo asked as he limped back into the church. Esmerelda followed him, and waited while he shut the door.

"Not lately. We usually keep watch…same as when Frollo used to send his soldiers after us. How about you?" She asked, some concern in her voice.

"I've been staying out of their way." Quasimodo replied pointedly. "I finished the puppets for Clopin…if you'd like to see them."

"I'd love to." She said with a smile.

XXX

Esmerelda followed Quasi up to the bell tower. She wondered over to the table where he kept his small replica of the city while he climbed a ladder up to another level to fetch the puppets.

"This is coming along nicely." She shouted up to him as she picked up one of the small wooden figures on his table. "You should have it built again soon." He said something back, but his reply was muffled so she didn't hear it. She set the figure down again and wondered over to a crude wooden chair near a shelf with Quasi's rough utensils on it.

There was a handmade chessboard sitting on the chair with a small sack on top. Esmerelda picked up the sack and undid the drawstring. She turned as Quasi jumped back down from the landing.

"Did you carve these?" She asked as she removed one of the tiny chess pieces from the sack.

"Uh huh. I made it for the shop owner on Rue Saint Martin." Quasi said as he handed her the set of hand puppets.

"Oh? Which one?"

"He sells stuff to craftsmen. He gives me the ingredients I need to make paint. I can't pay him…" Esmerelda raised her eyebrow.

"Why don't you just sell the chessboard? I bet this stuff is worth more then he gives you in paint." Quasi shrugged, which was a slightly awkward action for him, given the fact that one shoulder was already considerably higher then the other. He took the small pouch from her hands.

"Who would buy it from me?" He said as he set the pouch back on the chessboard. "Besides, I-I can't really make the pieces very well yet."

"They look good to me. As good as any other chess game I've seen" She said. He smiled a little and sat down at the table.

"What does Clopin need the puppets for?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, he's annoyed because Bastion wants to bring in some artisans to act out a play in the middle of the Festival. Its something called Ordo Virtutum…anyway he thinks it'll spoil the fun, so he's going to set up his puppet theatre near the stage and act out the story along with the actors." Esmerelda said with a sigh. "We found a copy of the text, but he can't read and when Pheobus tried to read it to him he got bored…so it probably wont follow the story much."

"Oh…that should be…interesting to watch…" Esmerelda smiled.

"Are you going to stay for the whole Festival this year?"

"I would like that…I want to see the bonfire…and the maypole. I think I may stay away from the stage when the king of fools is being crowned though." Quasimodo said while frowning. Esmerelda laid a small hand on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't worry about that. It's not going to happen again."

"Clopin said that he had a crown fitted especially for me."

"Don't listen to him. He was just joking." Esmerelda said, but with some hesitation. Knowing Clopin he might have.

"Still, I think I'll watch from the back of the crowd."

"I'll have a word with him." She said kindly.

"Right now I need to get going. I'm sure Clopin will be pleased with these." She said as she handed them towards him. Quasi waved them away.

"Take them with you. That way if he wants me to change them there'll be time."

She smiled and hugged him.

"Don't worry about the Festival. It'll be different this year. I'll see you soon, Quasi." She said, as she picked up Djali to carry her down the ladder.

"Bye." He replied as he watched her disappear from the platform. When she was gone his shoulders slumped and he sighed. For a moment he sat where he was, then, after casting a brief look at the chessboard he stood up and headed back down to the church.

XXX

Well, normally at the end of my chapter I like to respond to the reviews from the previous one, but I guess its kind of odd to do so when you've got only one review, lol. I don't think the traffic was this bad even for the first fic I wrote on this site five or six years ago. OO

Oh well, its still fun. I would like to thank LadyBastet92 for my one and only review ^^ I really do appreciate it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

_a treat for all these problems  
they can't find us for the moment  
then for all past effort  
they're buried deep beneath our hearts  
and somewhere in our stomachs_

and hatred for all others  
aweful people they surround you  
aint they just like monsters

"_Monsters" Band Of Horses_

Andie walked through the city in awe. She was used to places where the houses were small and further apart. The houses in Paris were so close together that they almost seemed to huddle. Her and Fay walked along the cobbles, an empty sack on both of their arms. Andie also had her cane and a small purse on her belt.

Aside from the fish, Fay said that she meant to stop in a Tavern to see about buying a few bottles of decent wine. (And perhaps something stronger so that she might deal better with the help at the hotel de Saint Pol) The house had had a great many bottles of expensive wine for cooking, but Fay did not believe that expensive was the same as good.

Andie knew what she meant. She'd worked on and off in the kitchen with her since she was fourteen and had tasted countless kinds of wine and beer and ale. Sometimes the most expensive stuff was the hardest to swallow.

While Fay seemed to be more interested in finding a tavern then taking in her surroundings, Andie found herself unable to focus on any one thing. Everything was so…different. Everywhere around her were men selling things and shouting and talking. There was a constant susurrus of noise that seemed to be engrained in the ambiance of the city.

As they progressed along the streets one thing did catch her eye. On the corner of one street was a group of shabbily but colorfully dressed people. There was a man playing a strange instrument with earrings in his ear and a woman, quite possibly one of the most beautiful women Andie had ever seen was dancing to the music gracefully, coins jingling on her skirts. A white goat leapt about her bare feet. There was also a man sitting on a barrel with a hat at his feet. There were some coins already in the hat.

Andie fumbled with the purse and pulled out a tiny silver coin, which she tossed into the hat.

The man caught her eye and smiled. He was dressed like the others and his ear was also pierced, but unlike the man with the instrument and the dancing woman his skin was fair and his hair, blonde. He winked. Andie blushed a little and turned away.

"You shouldn't encourage beggars." Fay said after they'd passed them by. "And those were gypsies too. You know what they say about gypsies."

"No." Andie said in a slightly apathetic manner. She had grown wary of information that followed the words 'You know what they say.' Because in her experience no one was really certain of who 'they' were.

"The say the gypsies steal children…and that they'll take whatever they can get they're hands on." Fay continued.

"So? I don't have anything and I'm twenty three." Andie said.

"True." Fay conceded. "Here's a likely looking pub." She continued. "I'll stop in here first. We wouldn't want his fish to rot on the way back."

Andie nodded and almost followed Fay into the Pub, which was called Eve's Apple, but the large woman paused in the threshold.

"Better stay out here. Men tend to leave all of their manners outside of taverns. They won't bother me…at least not for long, but a young woman like you may have some trouble" Even though she found this slightly frustrating, she shrugged and fell back. Fay knew more about city life then she did and besides she'd been around drunken lords before. They got grabby after only a few drinks, and _they'd_ taken lessons on how to behave.

"I'll try not to be too long." Fay said before disappearing into the tavern. Andie heard a mixture of sounds pouring from inside, including laughter, the banging of mugs and badly vocalized songs with dirty words. She sighed and leaned against the wall.

A few young boys ran past her, laughing and shouting. Andie watched them until they disappeared around the corner. After they were gone her eyes were drawn to the cathedral, rising above the buildings.

Hmm…

After a moment she straightened. She wasn't sure when she'd get another chance to see it. Depending on how things went with her cousin and Prince Bastion, it could either be weeks or days. Fay probably wouldn't like her wandering off, but then, it wasn't too far away and besides, it was a church, it wasn't as if she were wondering into a brothel.

The square was filled with the bustle of city life. Andie walked through it cautiously. A few merchants nodded to her and there was the occasional glance from young men, noting that she was female and at least mildly attractive.

She saw another group of beggars nearby. These weren't performing. One of them seemed to have no legs, the other had a blindfold over their eyes (It hadn't taken long for them to return to their spot. Clopin's beggars were harder to discourage then lice) and there was a boy using a stick as a crutch. Andie tended to be a fairly observant person and in watching the boy, who hobbled after passerbies with his hand out noticed that he seemed to be undecided as to which leg pained him. He was inadvertently switching back and forth between the two.

When she reached the stairs of the Notre Dame she raised her eyes upward in order to take the giant structure in up close. Several statues of saints adorned the sides of the cathedral. Their eyes were huge and wide and watched the street. They were actually kind of creepy. There were also monsters, the occasional demonic looking creature as well as the gargoyles, their mouths agape with grinning fascias.

After admiring the outside of the building for a while, and vaguely aware of the strange looks she was getting from people passing by, she headed up the stairs.

The huge doors were slightly cracked open. She slipped into the candlelit darkness.

It was beautiful. The ceilings were high and magnificent pillars of which Andie had only seen pictures of littered the passage. The light inside which came from the rows and rows of candlesticks and the windows gave the place a peaceful glow and there was a hush over it, broken only by the occasional snatches of prayer and whispered conversation.

She noted vaguely that a group of children were standing near the doorway, hidden behind one of the pillars. They were talking to one another in quiet voices. She caught a fragment of their conversation.

"_You do it." _

"_No way, my mother warned me not to go near him. She said she'd tan my hide if I did." _

"_Coward." _

"_Leverett, How will your mother ever know?" _

"_Well all right then if you're so brave, you do it!" _

Their voices faded as she passed them by.

She also passed what she assumed was a monk, hunched over and draped in a cloak with his hood pulled over his head. He was holding a long metal pole with a candle on one end and a small metal cup on the other (to snuff the candles out). He was also carrying a bundle of new candle ends beneath his arm.

As she walked past, one of the ends he was holding fell to the floor. It came to a stop near Andie's foot. She eyed it briefly before picking it up and looking back at the monk, who didn't seem to notice that he had dropped it.

"Excuse me." She said softly. His shoulders stiffened. "You dropped this." She said, offering the candle end.

He turned his head slightly and then swiftly turned away from her again, while tugging at his hood in a single nervous motion.

"Th-thank you." He said, while taking the end from her with a large hand. His voice was surprisingly youthful.

_Probably not a monk then. _Andie thought. In her experience monks tended to be older. She had assumed that he was with the way he was bent over_. _

"Your welcome." She said before turning away.

XXX

When he was certain that the girl had withdrawn, Quasimodo turned his head slightly. She was headed down the large corridor, the cane in her right hand making a loud sound on the checkered floor. For a moment he thought that she might be a gypsy or a beggar, simply because he couldn't remember seeing a girl her age using a walking stick, but he dismissed this idea almost immediately. Her clothes were not the brightly colored garments that the gypsies wore, and her skin tone, though darker them most, was not quite the hue of a person who spent all of their time in the street.

Quasimodo had lived most of his life watching people and had memorized their faces. He imagined he knew most of the faces of those who spent any time in or around the cathedral. He didn't recognize her.

Although, since Bastion had come to the city there had been a great many new faces.

She didn't look much like the people he'd been seeing, though. She was dressed more commonly then the women who had been showing up in Paris lately. They were mostly high class and nobility.

The girl had wandered all the way to the end of the corridor and was standing in the dome at the far end, staring up at he statues and paintings illuminated by the giant windows.

He returned to his work thoughtfully, removing a tiny burnt out candle from one of the holders after snuffing it out. He started to replace it with another, when he heard a soft sound behind him. He turned in time to see a young boy (one of the three who had been lingering in the shadows a moment before) push one of the candleholders over in Quasi's direction.

"Let's see if he catches fire!" A young boy shouted from the shelter of a pillar.

"Run Leverett!"

Leverett's face contorted into horror when Quasimodo looked at him and he nearly tripped over his own feet trying to get away.

Quasi reached for the holder as it fell and managed to grab it. However, one of the candles fell out of its place and, still lit, rolled across the floor. He turned quickly to try and catch it before it rolled into anything flammable. As he did, his cloak tangled around the holder and it fell over again, taking one or two others with it. Quasi lost his footing, dropped most of the ends he was still holding and crashed to the floor. The candle snuffer/lighter also fell from his hand and the candle spun away and went out.

The sound of laughter rose from nearby. He raised his head and peered through the strands of his red hair, noting dismally that the commotion had attracted one or two other people in the church, who were now watching him with mixed expressions of amusement and revulsion. There was perhaps some pity as well, but it was pity from people who were not likely to help him for fear of judgment from the rest of the crowd. (Which is perhaps ironic, when considering the fact that they were in a church)

XXX

Andie had wondered over to the rose window on one side of the church and had been admiring the complicated patterns in the glass, when she heard the crashing sound from the other side of the cathedral. She rounded a column in time to see three boys retreating from a fallen figure, who she recognized as the young man she'd taken for a monk when she first came in. Three of the candleholders had fallen over and one of them was tangled in the man's cloak and had fallen on top of him.

Andie frowned and headed towards the stricken figure, noting briefly and with some bewilderment that other people had also noticed but didn't seem to be trying to help. The young man didn't move, apart from raising his head a little.

"Are you all right?" She asked as she reached him. At the sound of her voice he made a hurried attempt to rise. He fell down again abruptly as his feet tangled in his cloak, which was still firmly attached to the candleholder.

"Hold on, your all tangled up." She said as she reached for his cloak to try and untangle him.

XXX

Quasimodo was aware of the weight being lifted as his cloak came free of the candlestick and it was lifted off of him.

The girl reached for his arm to help him up. He accepted her help with unease and quickly pulled away after he got back onto his feet.

"Are you hurt?" She asked after a moment, her voice sounding slightly bewildered as he recoiled from her, with his head down, so that she couldn't see his face.

"No, I-I'm fine, thank you." He stammered as he backed up a little more.

"Are you sure, you didn't get burnt or anything?" She asked while taking a hesitant step forward.

"N-no." He said this with some inflection, so as to ward her off. He began to quickly gather up the stuff that he had dropped, aware, with some apprehension that she was still watching him.

"Let me help you." She said after a moment as she leaned her cane against one of the columns and started picking up candle ends.

"Y-you don't have to." He said nervously.

"It's no trouble." She responded.

When she wasn't looking at him anymore he took the opportunity to raise his eyes a little and observe her. She was quite pretty in a strange way. Her dark tussled hair fell in her face, which reminded Quasi very much of the faces of the stone figures that adorned the Notre Dame (The statues, not the gargoyles) She had the handsome and yet somehow simple features of a fascia that should be chiseled in stone. She also had some of the brightest eyes Quasimodo had ever seen. They were bluish gray, nearly white and they took in the candlelight like glass.

Without warning she looked up again, perhaps feeling his gaze upon her. Quasimodo felt a brief jolt of fear and quickly resumed picking up the ends, while moving into the shadows of a pillar.

XXX

Andie had gathered all of the candle ends that she could find nearby and had also proceeded to grab the snuffer. Then she cast a casual glance back at the shrouded man, who seemed to once again be playing with his hood. His feet were turned in slightly and his knees practically touched.

She had met shy men before. All young men were shy around young women, but she'd never actually had a boy hide from her before.

There was something…awkward about the way he was standing, the way he was hunched over…as if something about him weren't quite right.

"Um here, I think this is all of them." She said carefully as she approached him. He drew away from her automatically, as if there was a certain distance that he was determined to keep. Still, he took the ends from her. She was about to hand him the snuffer as well when she heard a sharp voice behind her.

"Hey! Half of the candles have gone out down near the altar! Brother Montague may spare pity on a wretch like you but I'm certainly not going to stand for this oafishness." Andie turned towards the direction of the voice. A large man was advancing towards them, his gray robes flapping about him.

He was obviously a monk. His wrinkled face was contorted into a look of aversion. He came to a stop very close to her.

"I-I'm sorry. I was…" The young man started. He was promptly interrupted.

"Don't think just because the arch deacon lets you work down here, that I don't have my eye on you." He then directed his attention towards Andie.

"Is he bothering you, young lady?"

"No, I was helping him pick up…" Andie started, a little annoyed.

"Why are those candle holders on the floor?" He asked. Andie frowned. He eyed her briefly before taking snuffer from her. "Never mind, just pick them up and get back to work." He said as he thrust it towards the young man.

XXX

Quasimodo caught it, but in doing so dropped some of the candles again. He nearly tripped over one, which would have been bad enough all things considered, but managed to keep his footing. Unfortunately, his hood fell back.

There was a long horrible moment, in which the girl had first taken a step toward him, possibly because she had seen that he was about to trip again, and then, upon seeing his hood fall back, recoiled as if stung.

He watched with a sort of inner dread as the girl's face took on an expression of surprised horror, a look that he had grown very much accustomed to. He heard her gasp softly.

Quasimodo quickly pulled the hood back over his head and in an effort to get away groped desperately for the stairway nearby, ignoring the angry cries from the monk.

After he reached to top of the stairway, climbing it in his erratic gate he stopped and leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. For a moment he saw only the girls expression and the fire from the candles reflecting in her eyes.

XXX

LadyBastet92: Thank you. I hope the chapter turned out all right. I was brain clogged during the last few pages of it. OO Hopefully the story will pick up a bit more now.

EmoGypsy: Glad you like it : ) I wish there were more of them too. Quasi needs love.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

_All a diamond is, is good timing.  
All a diamond is, is good timing.  
All good diamonds are uncut diamonds Oh._

La la la… Fire makes them so cold to the eye.

"_Child Heart Losers" Sunset Rubdown_

It was early enough so that even the bells of Notre Dame had not yet awoken. (Although the bell ringer had, in fact, been up for nearly an hour) Gage walked, or swayed, as it were across the Prince's apartment in the Hotel de Saint Pol until he walked out into the garden and the cold early morning air. He caught site of Theobald who was standing near a bench, where another man was sitting. Theobald eyed the captain nervously.

"Good morning, Captain Gage." The other man said with a smile. "Thanks for coming so quickly. I do hope I didn't wake you."

"No…I was up." Gage said wearily. In fact he had never gone to sleep. He had been up drinking all night. "Why are you in the city, Marcel?"

The one called Marcel smiled a little and pulled out a letter with an elegant seal on it.

"For you." Gage groaned and took the letter from him.

He didn't much care for Marcel. He was an advisor to the royal family and was generally considered by most to be a slimy little git.

"It's from the Duke!" Theobald said quickly, from beside Marcel.

"Thank you, Theobald, I see it has his seal on it." Gage said cynically.

"He's displeased that his son has yet to find a wife." Theobald added. Gage sighed and ripped the letter open.

"We've been doing all we can. Many young women have met the prince, all from wonderful families." Gage said dryly.

"And all turned down." Marcel said with a nasty little grin.

"Well, Prince Bastion has been somewhat selective in his choosing." Gage replied. After reading a few lines he massaged his forehead.

"I see. I thought something like this was only done in extreme cases. I suppose I'd better speak to the prince." Marcel smiled.

"I was also to inform you that I shall be taking residence here." Theobald and Gage exchanged a look.

"Is that necessary?" Gage asked.

"The Duke insisted."

XXX

Prince Bastion was not a naturally early riser so he wasn't particularly pleased when the Captain woke him. He was even more displeased when he read his father's letter. Gage stood at attention in front of him as best as he could while trying to ignore the spots dancing in front of his eyes.

"He wishes for me to find a bride by January 16th?" Bastion rose from his bed. He was an exceptionally handsome man, even this early in the morning and in his bedclothes. He brushed a few dark curls out of his bright emerald eyes and scowled. "This is hardly acceptable."

"To be fair, your majesty, we have been here for the best part of two months. The Duke is giving you another month and a half in order to find a suitable wife. It's not unreasonable. In the meantime I would consider taking his advice." The prince me his gaze for a few moments before he looked downward at the letter again.

"He wishes for me to throw a ball?" He asked, with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. "Do people really do that?"

"Yes lord, and he requested that you stop inviting women to the city. Currently there are more the sixteen families staying as your guests in the Hotel de Saint Pol. If you can't find a girl among them then he will find one for you."

"That's outrageous. The girls I've met so far have been…unimpressive to say the least."

"That's hardly fair. Some of them weren't bad. One must consider many things when picking a wife. There's status and elegance, qualifications in the way of childbirth, wealth..." The Prince interrupted him.

"Yes well, most of them had all of that for certain." He said nastily. "All of that's fine, what I don't want is a wife with teeth that would put a horse to shame or a woman with an eyebrow that takes up most of her face." He said as he crossed the room to a full-length mirror and tussled his hair a bit.

"Just because the last girl you met looked like that doesn't mean they all will." Gage said wearily.

"If my father insists then I suppose there's not much I can do." He said as he cast the letter aside. "Make arrangements for the ball. If it'll make him happy."

"Yes sir." Gage said. "We should try to arrange it within the month. Perhaps a Masquerade? They're quite popular." The Prince waved him away.

"Fine, that way unkempt eyebrows and the like shall come as a surprise for later." The prince said sarcastically. "Set it for the end of the week and be sure to notify the families today. Now be gone so I can dress." Gage nodded and exited the room.

XXX

_At that same time, on another side of the Hotel de Saint Pol Andie was dreaming of a time when she had still lived in a hospice near the church of St. Maria. _

_She dreamed often of the hospice, but on this occasion she was dreaming of the year that she was eleven. A boy had come to the hospice that year. His name was Laurence. He had been one of those foundlings that had been abandoned by his parents for one reason or another. In this case it was probably because of the state of his mind. He spoke little and tended to stare at things and people as if he weren't sure what they were for._

_Also, he was prone to having fits. These were not the quiet episodes that Alain had, but great screaming writhing convulsions where he would be rolling on the ground, gnashing his teeth and making all sorts of god awful noises. _

_The other children, when they were bored or were feeling particularly vindictive, would egg them on, poking him or pinching him and occasionally throwing things at him and then standing back and laughing with dark glee when he went into a spasm. (Anyone who think that children are innocent are clearly not paying attention)_

_Andie had never actually joined in, but she still remembered the first time it had happened. She remembered looking at the boy and feeling a certain amount of revulsion towards him when he was in that state. She would come to be ashamed of the feeling. But at that moment she had almost hated him. _

_Sometimes the torture was allowed to go on for some time, but it was often broken up by the woman who oversaw the hospice or, more often by Sarge, who had an unerring instinct for foul play and impeccable hearing, which more then made up for the fact that he was almost entirely blind. _

_Sarge was always hanging around the hospice and the church doing odd jobs. He wasn't an official employee, but the only other place for a man who couldn't see was on the streets begging and he didn't like the prospect of sitting around and doing nothing because he held the opinion that if you didn't practice being useful you soon forgot how. _

_Andie had liked Sarge. This was mostly because he was the first really trustworthy adult she'd ever met, but also because he talked to her like a person, rather then a child. Most adults didn't do that. _

_He'd also taught her how to read. She had been able to a little, so that, if given a book she could read one word in every twenty, but he had taught her how to read _well_. He'd been fairly learned before he'd gone blind and could still write, so he would take out a ledger and write letters on it and make her repeat them. _

_And there were the books as well. He had half a dozen of them. He would sit patiently as she slowly made her way through paragraphs. She sometimes suspected that he might've been doing it so that he had someone to read to him, but she didn't mind. She enjoyed it. _

_Sarge was generally an amiable and good-humored man, but he had been angry that day. He had charged in and shouted at the children, who had scattered at the sound of his voice. Then he had tried to calm the boy down. After that occasion Laurence would stick close to Sarge as often as possible. _

_Andie had brought the whole thing up to Sarge later and, in response he'd given her a look that she would never forget. He might've been blind, but at that moment she had gotten the extremely disconcerting feeling that he could see all the way into her head. _

_"The next time you see them doing that you come and tell me." He had said in his gravelly voice. There was a certain amount of blame in his eyes when he said it. _

_"I wasn't helping them…" She had said, aware of how useless the words sounded. _

_"Sometimes not doing anything can do as much harm." His face had then softened. Perhaps he had reminded himself that she was eleven and still had a lot to learn. _

_"Listen Andie, I'll tell you what. The next time you see someone torturing someone else for fun, I want you to take a good look at their faces." _

_"He looked awful!" She had said desperately, while remembering the site of the small boy with horror. "He was making noises and grinding his teeth!" _

_"I'm not talking about Laurence. I'm talking about the other children. I'm talking about people who torture other people. You take a good look at their faces and then see if you don't know what ugly is." _

In Andie's dream there was a circle of children all shouting and throwing things at the small figure writhing and weeping on the inside. Their expressions were terrible to begin with but as Andie watched them, the children started to change. Their mouths were suddenly gaping; their eyes became bulbous and their noses flared until they looked very much like the stone monsters that adorned the Notre Dame. Then Andie heard a scream and the dream started to break up.

But just before it did an image flashed before her eye. The image was of a face. It was a face with horribly awkward and badly deformed features. She'd only seen it for a moment before he'd covered it up again but one moment was enough. The face had been unfortunate and had come as a shock, but that wasn't what stuck in her memory. What stuck in her memory was his expression. It was an expression of horrible agony and sorrow, as if the horror on her face had physically wounded him.

As Andie surfaced into wakefulness she felt the same quiver of guilt she had felt when she was eleven and looking into Sarge's blank eyes.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the scream from her nightmare again. She jumped, then, after regaining her senses she relaxed. She recognized that scream, or shriek, as it were. Isabelle was having a tantrum.

Andie covered her head with her blanket.

_It has to be too early for this_. She thought wearily. Off in the distance she heard the bells of the Notre Dame, which confirmed that yes, yes it was.

With a groan she pushed the blanket off of her and sat up. For a moment, before she pulled her sleeves down a series of faint scars were visible on her upper arms. She stepped down onto the wood floor. Some of the bones in her foot danced in an odd way and Andie felt a brief shock of pain coursing down her bad leg. She limped across the room and grabbed her cane before heading out the door.

XXX

Andie met Alain halfway to her cousin's room. He looked at her frantically.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I'm to fetch Miss Beauvais! I tried to bring Isabelle her breakfast. She was all swelled up and she was screaming at me and I was so startled that I dropped the tray! She told me to go away and get someone!" He said it all in a single breath.

"Calm down, Alain." She said as the boy stopped to take a few gulps of air.

"What do you mean she's all swelled up? And where's Charlot? I thought she was supposed to take Isabelle her breakfast."

"Isabelle said she didn't want Charlot anywhere near her because she's spilled her breakfast on her twice now. I don't know why she's swelled up, but it's bad!"

XXX

Fifteen minutes later Andie was in her cousin's room cleaning up the spilled tray while Adeline shouted at people. She mostly did this out of general principle. Isabelle just wailed. Her face _was_ bad. It was puffy and swollen and there were hives all over her arms and shoulders.

One of the servants had been sent to get a doctor, who was currently examining the girl. At some point during his examination Captain Gage had been ushere dinto the room by a servant and was now standing by and watching Isabelle with a grimace on his face. Andie wondered vaguely if this was because of her unfortunate appearance or her shrill weeping. By the haggard look of the man she assumed it was the latter.

"I think she must have had an allergic reaction to something she ate." The doctor said after a bit.

"It was probably that fishy paste the cook was serving." Adeline said with disapproval. Andie frowned bitterly at this.

"You should consider yourself lucky that her throat didn't close up." The doctor said as he straightened.

"Lucky? Look at me!" Isabelle shouted angrily through her tears.

"Yes, swelling is not uncommon, my dear. It will clear up."

"When?" Miss Beauvais asked in frustration. "She can hardly meet Prince Bastion looking this way."

"Could be a few days or maybe a week, maybe longer, depending on the severity of her case." The doctor replied.

"That may be a problem." Captain Gage said form Behind Adeline. "The Prince has arranged for a Masquerade Ball to be thrown at the end of this week. If your daughter wishes to even have a chance at marrying his lordship she'll have to attend." Adeline looked at the doctor inquiringly.

"Can't you do anything!?"

"I'm sorry, Madame. You could try giving her plantain; it should help with the inflammation a little. One of the monks at the Notre Dame is an herbalist and I can't imagine he doesn't have some."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"I'm afraid you'll just have to wait it out." He said as he began to gather his things to leave.

Andie stood cautiously as the doctor nodded to Adeline and the captain and headed for the door.

For the first time since all of the excitement began Adeline seemed to acknowledge Andies existence.

"Andie, go an find someone and send them down to the church to get some plantain." She said sharply. Andie nodded and turned away form her aunt.

On her way out she heard her aunt talking to the captain once more.

"Well, it is a masquerade, isn't it? I don't suppose that, if she isn't fully recovered, she could still attend. Her face _will_ be covered." She added hopefully.

"Well, yes…" Gage said after a lengthy pause. "but…well there's only so much a mask can hide. At this point what your daughter would need is a shroud." It was clear that the captain was not in the mood for pleasantness this morning. Isabelle, who was starting to calm down, burst into tears again.

XXX

Alain was standing outside the doorway hopping nervously from foot to foot.

"I'm not in trouble am I? I didn't mean to upset Miss Isabelle." He said, his voice cracking a little.

"Don't worry about it." Andie replied kindly. "Its not your fault. Here, take this down to the kitchen." She added as she handed him the tray.

"What are you going to do?" He asked, calming down a little.

"I'm going to go down to the church and find the herbalist." She said.

"By yourself?" He asked skeptically. Andie nodded.

"I'll be fine. Go find Fay and tell her that I went and also that she should have a word with the cook about his fish. It's what made Isabelle break out I think…that should make her day."

XXX

After Quasimodo was done ringing the bells for the morning he put on his cloak and grabbed the chessboard from it's place on the chair and headed out into the city to get the stuff for his paint. What with one thing and another he hadn't gotten a chance to the day before.

The dyer he bought his pigments from was a man named Herve Devereux. He owned a small shop where he mixed up and sold his dyes. His son, who was a glassblower, also used the shop for _his_ work.

As Quasimodo reached the doorway he heard an unpleasant cracking noise, followed by both frantic and angry shouting. He limped into the messy shop cautiously.

The combination of the scent of various minerals used for the dyes, and the somewhat sweet burning smell that was present because of the glassblowing made it so that the odor of Mr. Devereux' shop was nearly a solid substance. It wasn't unpleasant so much as penetrating.

"You stupid fool!" Shouted someone from inside. "I told you to stop blowing on the pipe! I swear, if you weren't family I would quit on you now and save myself the trouble!"

A muscular young man was the one doing the shouting. It was directed at a lanky boy, probably around the age of fifteen, who was frantically attempting to clean up what was left of the molten glass bubble he had been trying to form a moment earlier.

The older boy, who was in fact, Mr. Devereux's oldest son caught site of Quasi and scowled.

"Does this look like a good time to you, you ugly cretin?" Quasimodo resisted the urge to back out of the shop.

"Calm down Val." A tired voice said from the open doorway that led into adjoining house. Herve walked into the room and looked at Quasi briefly before turning to his son. " And get your brother some gloves for god's sake. It won't help his glassblowing any if he keeps burning his hands." Val glowered, but pulled off his own gloves and cast them at the boy who was trying ineffectively to pick up a piece of rapidly cooling glass without being burnt or cut.

Herve motioned for Quasi to follow him into the house.

"What do you want, Quasimodo?" He asked as he sat down at a small table were he appeared to be working at grinding some of the minerals he would use for the pigments he sold.

Quasi pulled the chessboard out and set it in front of the man carefully, along with the small sack of pieces. Herve looked up and examined the board for a moment.

"Not bad. Obviously I can't give you any of my expensive stuff." He said. "But I'm sure we can work something out."

"I-I was just hoping to get some green and some blue…and I'm running out of white again." He said awkwardly. Herve nodded and stood. He went through some of his materials before turning back to the hunchback.

"Copper carbonate for the blue, Zinc oxide for the white and this is made from iris flowers." He said as he handed the materials to Quasi. "Nothing too expensive but not bad. I'll even throw in some linseed oil."

"Thank you." Quasi replied as he took the items from the man. He was aware that two or three weeks of painstakingly carving out and painting the tiny chess pieces and chessboard was probably worth more then what he was getting for it. He knew Esmerelda had probably been right, but at the same time he was unable to bring himself to ask for more, particularly because he had a difficult time seeing the quality of his own work.

After he left the younger of Herve's sons walked over to his father while massaging his hand.

"What's that?" He asked as he eyed the chessboard. His father had gone back to his work. He looked up briefly.

"The Bellringer traded it for some pigments."

"It looks expensive." Said his son, whose name was Meryle.

"Nah, he carved it himself." His father replied absently.

Meryle frowned and picked up the pieces to examine them.

"What, with all of these little details and everything?" His father grunted.

Meryle raised one of he knights to his eye and cast a brief, disapproving look at his father.

"It almost looks nicer then the ones you can buy at a shop." He said cautiously.

"Nah, those are made by _craftsmen. _Plus they're made with a better quality of wood and more expensive paints."

"Right. Makes sense, I suppose." Meryle said as he put the piece back into the sack carefully. He was a fairly decent boy and was a bit more honest then his father and much kinder then his brother, and he felt slightly bothered by the situation and was thinking that since Quasimodo had used his own materials and paints in order to create the chessboard, his father could have maybe overlooked the cheaper paintjob and wood…especially since it was he who was supplying the boy with the paints in the first place, and he could hardly afford better ones at the rate he was currently getting. He thought all of this, but didn't say anything.

XXX

I had to re post this chapter because I wanted to add a bit to the end of it.

LadyBastet92: Thanks ^^ I'm glad you like it so far. I like being realistic…well mostly. It's kind of getting in the way of my writing. I keep having to look up details about the renaissance to see what's accurate and what's not. I consider this to be somewhat unnecessary and obsessive behavior but I can't seem to stop. 99


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

_And the sullen beery swine,  
try to tangle you in sullen beery balls of twine  
Have they ever seen two eyes so shiny?_

"_Shiny" The Decemberists_

Andie left for the Cathedral at around the same time that Quasimodo left the Dyer's Shop.

The weather wasn't nearly as nice as it had been the day before. The sky was overcast, but refused to produce rain and the clouds were so thick that it was difficult to locate the sun. It was also windy and chilly. A standard day for late December.

Andie had left her cane at the hotel de saint pol, and was already beginning to regret it as she walked stiffly down the streets of Paris. There were a lot of people milling about, despite the weather. Mostly they paid her no mind.

About halfway to the Notre Dame, she walked by a brick wall, which, in fact was the bottom portion of another street. Paris seemed to consist of levels built on other levels. The wall even had gaps and doorways that led to other streets. There was a broken part near the top of one corner of the wall where the balustrade was torn, so that someone could technically stand atop the upper street and jump down to the lower street without much difficulty.

Another band of gypsies were huddled in the corner of the brick partition some ways ahead of her and were halfheartedly performing. The group was considerably less pleasant to watch then the group she had seen the day before,

It consisted of an old man with an offset eye (So offset so that if someone was standing right in front of him he'd have to turn his head back in forth in order to see them with both eyes) who was playing an instrument badly, a young skinny boy in grubby clothing, dancing and shaking a tambourine and a third man sitting off to one side who wasn't doing anything but drinking and occasionally shouting at passerby's. Andie noticed that very few people were stopping to give them money.

Because the gypsies distracted her she almost didn't see Quasimodo, who came out of a side street a little ahead of her. He had looking downward. When she did see him she froze. In normal circumstances she probably wouldn't have recognized someone she'd seen for only an instance the day before, but his was a face that one did not forget in a hurry.

He raised his head and looked at her, appearing surprised for a moment. She got the impression that he might have either darted back into the street behind him or hurried off in another direction, if it hadn't been for the sudden outburst that came from the direction of the gypsies.

The old gypsy had stopped playing and was looking down the street in the direction Andie had come from and was shouting at the man with the flask urgently. There was the sudden sound of wheels and hoof beats.

A coach thundered by Andie, close enough to cause her to cringe. Her cloak flapped about her shoulders in its wake and she cursed loudly. The horses stopped within feet of the gypsies and some guards jumped out of the coach, not even waiting for it to stop all of the way.

Andie looked down the street to where the hunchback had been standing a moment before. He was gone.

The gypsy who had been drinking had dropped his flask and had run off in a hurry and the old man with the offset eye hit one of the guards in the face with a hat full of coins and lurched through a gateway as a few coins hit the ground behind him. The boy went to follow but the stricken guard recovered and grabbed at his rags. The boy lost his footing and fell to the ground.

Andie took an automatic step towards them and then stopped as her brain kicked in.

_Hold on now, _She thought to herself. _They have swords and they're in uniform. What exactly do you plan to do? _

On the other hand, no one else was rushing to help. Some of the townspeople walked off in a hurry so that they could be somewhere else if something bad happened. Others pretended not to notice. Some were watching with concern, but stood glued in place.

Andie frowned.

They were probably thinking something on the lines of _Someone should do something._. Unfortunately 'Someone should do something' is a phrase that is used to include everyone in the world except the person thinking it.

Andie pursed her lips and headed once again towards the guards.

One of them had picked up the flask and all of the coins that had fallen or had been left behind. He was counting them. He tried taking a drink of the swill but wound up spitting it out again with a grimace.

The other had put his boot down on the skinny gypsy boy's back. He was younger then the other guard and had the look of a man who hadn't grown up yet. (But he also looked like he'd been the sort of kid who'd taken pleasure in pulling the wings off of flies and throwing stones at stray dogs) They both looked like bullies.

"What are you doing? He's just a kid." Andie said as she reached the young guard. She was actually a bit taller then him. He gave her a haughty look.

"Back off, little girl." He said. Andie glowered. She was probably a few years older then him. "This isn't a child, this imp is the spawn of a heathen." He took his boot off of the child and pulled him to his feet by his collar. Andie looked at the kid. His nose was running and his small face was caked with dirt.

"He's doing an awfully good impression of one."

"It's the nature of heathens to be deceitful."

_Where as you're not a heathen, and are, therefore not trying to hide the fact that you're a complete and utter bastard. _She thought to herself.

"What harm is he doing you?" Andie asked frustratingly. The other man, who was quite a bit bigger, grabbed her shoulder.

"If you know what's good for you young lady, I would get on my way and leave us to do our job." She shook his hand off of her while shuddering inwardly.

"Your job is to bully little kids?"

"Our job…" he said, leaning forward so that his face was uncomfortably close to hers and she could smell his breath. "…is to do as his lordship asks. We're to stop any _gypsies_ we see. It seems that you need to learn your place, miss."

Andie opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped when she caught sight of movement. She looked up at the brick wall.

The younger guard had been watching Andie and the older guard with some amusement, while holding onto the boy's arm. When the boy was snatched from his grip, the look on his face was almost comical. He looked down at his hand confusedly for a moment before looking up.

Andie was in a position to see what had happened. Quasimodo had apparently made his way up to the other street (in fact he had ducked into a nearby doorway and had climbed a building onto the higher level) and was able to grab the top of the wall and hang down the side. He reached out and grasped the child by his collar. He was considerably stronger then the guard, so it didn't take much to break the young man's grip. He pulled the boy up in a single motion and thrust him towards the upper street. The boy climbed the rest way and took off running the minute Quasimodo let go of him.

The young guard jerked backward and Andie imagined that he would have hid behind her and the other guard if the hunchback had actually dropped to the lower street.

As it was, Quasimodo pulled himself back up. The big guard hurried forward and made a jump at the ledge but missed. He fell back down with a crash.

"Don't just stand there, Eloi, Get after him." The big guard groaned as he picked himself back up. Andie wasn't surprised to see that Eloi didn't move. What he did do was turn to her and she saw, for a moment a horrible gleam in his eye.

Your not big and strong, the look said. I can deal with you.

She looked back up at Quasimodo who motioned for her to go down the street.

"Quickly, the doorway." He said before disappearing behind a building. Eloi turned back towards him when he spoke.

Andie spotted the open archway and ran for it while Eloi was distracted. She was through it and running down another road by the time they noticed she was gone.

XXX

Once Andie was certain she had gotten away she stopped with a groan. Not bringing her cane had _definitely_ been a mistake. She limped onward until she saw the raised area of street that she imagined probably connected to the area where the Hunchback had been standing. When she reached it she was not surprised to see that both him and the child were nowhere to be seen.

Andie sighed and sat down on the side of a nearby fountain and massaged her ankle, while absently watching the cobbled roads. When the ebb of pain finally died down she stood up and headed towards the church.

XXX

Quasimodo took a different road. He climbed up a nearby building, much to the annoyance of the owner and dropped down on the road on the other side. Then he took that road back to the church.

When he got there he climbed up the stairs to the bell tower and set his paint materials down on the table with his model of the city.

"Quasimodo, you've arrived just in time. I'm triumphing over Hugo at cards and you can play the winner." Viktor said while waving his hand in the air.

"I can't believe this, you gotta be cheating!" Hugo said with annoyance.

"What an outrageous claim. I suppose you think I'm hiding the cards in my sleeve?"

"Thanks guys," Quasimodo said with the hint of a smile. "But I need to get my chores done. "

"Haven't they hired a new doorkeeper yet?" Laverne asked. She had been watching Viktor and Hugo's game, but it was a fairly one sided match and was, therefore, quite dull. "That man's been in the stocks for months."

"I don't mind doing it. It was nice of the archdeacon to give me the job." Quasi said absently.

"Well, I suppose if you don't mind..."

XXX

Andie looked around the interior of the Notre Dame for the second time in two days. It was quite a bit drearier without the sunlight shining through. There were a few more candles lit, but they just served to emphasize the darkness. It was also fairly empty today. One or two people were praying at the prayer benches.

Andie approached an elderly man in deacon's robes with a cross around his neck. He was walking down the hall and occasionally nodding at the people who were praying. When he noticed her, he smiled.

"Hello, child. What can I do for you?" He asked.

"I was sent down here to see your herbalist." Andie said. "I need to get some plantain for one of Prince Bastion's guests."

"Ah, I see. Normally the herbalist arrives at midday. I'm sure he'll be in shortly." The man replied kindly. "In the meantime, a short prayer on the patients behalf might do some good." He said as he gestured to one of the benches.

"Um, thank you, maybe later." Andie said a little awkwardly. She wasn't entirely comfortable with religion and the last time she'd prayed had been when she was nine. She had been up in a tree near her house, hiding from her father. The prayer hadn't worked.

The priest gave her a disconcertingly intelligent look and, still smiling, he nodded.

"Of course. Still, in God's house, you are always welcome." He said as he turned. "If you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask."

He disappeared around a corner, leaving Andie to stand in the resolute silence. Around her, candles flickered.

Andie eyed the people rapt in prayer and wondered vaguely, how many of them were asking for selfish things, or praying as an excuse to not do something for themselves. She sighed, that was a poor way to think in a church.

She leaned back against the wall and her gaze drifted upward until they rested on the face of a sculpted saint, staring out with their eyes wide and hands outstretched, beckoning at the church. It was probably meant to be impressive but the effect was somewhat spoiled by the fact that one of his fingers were missing and due to some cracking on the face, the expression the saint was wearing was a bit deranged.

Andie shook her head and looked away. A man was descending the staircase on the far side of the hall. Andie raised her eyebrows. She recognized the hunched stature immediately. He was holding a broom. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he pulled his hood over his face.

After a moment, she straightened and followed him.

XXX

Quasimodo started sweeping near one of the portal doorways. The candlelight was flickering off of his dark green cloak. He reached up and pushed the portal door open a little, revealing a sliver of white light from outside.

"Hey." Andie said from behind him. Quasimodo jumped and turned quickly. A brief look of alarm crossed his misshapen face before he turned back to the door.

"H-hello…again." He said miserablyas he continued through the portal. Andie followed him outside.

"I uh…I just wanted to…apologize." Andie said after a moment as he swept the dirt out onto the stairs and into the street. "For yesterday." She continued as he cast her a brief look before immediately looking away again.

"I-its all right." Quasimodo stammered. "I-I'm sorry I frightened you." He added shyly.

For a moment Andie couldn't think of anything to say.

"Um, You don't have to apologize." She said finally as she walked down the short stairway. "You…surprised me." She winced briefly. It was a stupid thing to say, but she couldn't think of anything better. "I didn't mean to upset you." She added quickly.

He focused his gaze on the banister where his hand was resting.

"It's okay. I-I'm used to it." There was a moment of awkward silence. Quasimodo was too shy to speak, where as Andie was experiencing the sort of awkwardness that inflicts people who are trying desperately not to offend someone.

During the silence Andie examined Quasimodo as indiscreetly as she could. His attitude was entirely contradictory to his appearance. He looked as if he were trying to make himself as small as possible, which was proving difficult, because he was a big man. He was shorter then her because of how bent over his body was, but his shoulder's must have been three times the size of hers and his arms and legs were like tree trunks and his hands like boulders. This, coupled with his unfortunate appearance gave him an extremely menacing look.

Still, despite all this, the expression he wore reminded her of the sort worn by a small creature that had been kicked far too many times and now cowers in the corner whenever someone approaches. And he didn't sound menacing when he spoke. In fact, there was kindness in his voice.

"I thought it was really nice of you saving that boy." Andie said cautiously, to break the silence. Quasimodo blinked and, for a moment he met her gaze, before looking away again.

_She has such beautiful eyes! _He thought furiously and then immediately tried to put the thought out of his mind.

"I-it was nice of you to try to help him." He said timidly.

"It wasn't doing much good." She said. "Do they do that a lot?"

"Oh yes." He said. "All the time…of course, if the gypsies get a hold of them they aren't treated much better."

"Yeah…well, they probably deserve it." Andie said, while vaguely remembering the guards from earlier that day. It was hard to feel sorry for stupid men in lots of armor…with swords.

"In any case, it was still nice of you."

She surprised him by extending her hand.

"I'm Andie." Quasimodo stared at it for a moment before looking up into her nervous smile. Finally, he took her hand cautiously. His fingers devoured hers.

"Q-Quasimodo." He said.

Andie's smile faltered a little at the unfortunate name.

_What sort of person would give this boy a name like Quasimodo? _She thought bitterly.

"Like the Sunday after Easter?" She said as he let go of her hand. He gave her a slightly embarrassed look.

"Um, I suppose." He changed the subject. "Are you new in the city?" He asked.

"Yeah…I don't now long I'll be staying here, though. So, you work in the church?" She asked.

"Uh huh." He said. He eyed his broom absently. "Actually, I really should get back to work." He said after a moment.

"Oh, all right." Andie said. He started back up the stairs while part of him mentally kicked himself. It was rare that young women struck up conversations with him…extremely rare…actually if he didn't include Esmerelda and Aimee then it never happened…and Aimee was nine so that probably didn't count. Quasimodo paused.

"I-it was nice meeting you…" He said. Andie looked up at him and smiled. He blushed a little.

"It was nice meeting you too." She said.

He went back into the church and when he was out of her sight he ran his hand through his hair out of frustration before shaking his head and returning to his work.

XXX

LadyBastet92: Thanks : ) That kid's actually important for later…its not just me trying to cram stuff in.

EmoGypsy: I'm pleased you think so ^^ Lol, no I didn't mean for that part to be particularly enjoyable…and I take it as a compliment that you didn't like it : )


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

_And I tried to tell him that he had a sense  
Of color and composition so magnificent  
And he said thank you, please, but your flattery  
It is truly not becoming me  
Your eyes are poor, you're blind, you see  
No beauty ever could have come from me_

"Waste Of Paint" Bright Eyes

The sun was setting. The last rays of dusk reflected in the giant rose window, in front of the cathedral and refracted off of the bells in the bell tower, which glimmered lightly in the dark.

Quasimodo lit a candle near his table and pulled a crude wooden bowl from a shelf nearby. After picking the remnants of dried paint from the bottom he poured the ingredients from the dyer into it along with some linseed oil. He sat down and started mixing it up carefully. When he got it to the color he wanted he picked up a brush and delicately began painting a wooden house.

The church was really quiet at night. The only sound in the bell tower aside from the occasional rustling of feathered wings from the roosting pigeons or the skittering sound of a rat running along a rail was Quasimodo's brush passing over the wood. It was a lonely sound.

Occasionally he would stop to give his hand a break and he'd look out into the darkness of the bell tower. Even when his eyes adjusted the only thing visible was the ropes and beams and the occasional outline of the wing or horn of a gargoyle or statue against the faint moonlight.

When he had been smaller, night had frightened him sometimes, because of the silence and the dark and because he'd been up in the tower all by himself. Frollo hadn't given him many candles and the ones he had given him had been mostly melted down, with just an hour or so of light left in them. Sometimes he would sit with his blankets rapped around him tightly, staring out at the shapes. It was especially bad when the moon wasn't out…or during a storm when the wind howled and the thunder roared.

After a few hours of painting Quasimodo yawned and stretched the awkward contours of his body. After cleaning the brush carefully and draping a rag over the paint he hadn't used, he picked up the candle and was about to blow it out and head off to bed when he eyed a small hunk of wood he'd set aside in case he found something he wanted to carve.

Quasimodo set the candle back down and picked it up in his big hand then, after a moment of thought he picked up his carving knife and started to carve out a shape in the in the surface.

XXX

Adeline sent someone to wake Andie up early the next morning. She walked down to Isabelle's room, where Adeline was using a ribbon to take Isabelle's measurements. She was in a foul mood. The plantain didn't seem to be having any effect on Isabelle's visage.

"Stand up straight, Isabelle." Adeline said as she circled her. Andie stood off to one side yawning.

"Andie, when this is finished, I want you to go find a tailor and send them down. Isabelle's to have a proper dress for the masquerade." Adeline said as she measured the girl's waist and made a mark. "The tailor may have to fit the dress to you."

"Why can't the tailor just fit it to her?" Andie asked.

"I'm not going to be seen like this!" Isabelle said. "I don' see why you can't fit it to someone closer to my own measurements though mother. It won't fit me if they fit it to _her_."

All of the crying from the day before had made Isabelle's eyes even puffier then they had been previously. She glared at Andie but the effect was somewhat lost considering that her eyes were half-closed anyways.

"That's why we're taking the measurements. They can make adjustments where it's necessary." Adeline said with a sniff.

"They'll have to take the chest out a bit I imagine…and her shoulders are really much too broad." Isabelle said. Insulting Andie seemed to cheer her up a bit. Andie scowled, but didn't say anything.

When Adeline was finished with the measurements, she handed the ribbon to Andie.

"Try not to forget which marks are which."

XXX

A small girl climbed the steps of the Notre Dame and slipped through the doorway. She eyed the interior briefly and crinkled her nose before heading towards a nearby stairway, which disappeared up into the higher levels of the church.

A monk (Andie would have recognized him as the ill tempered man she'd met the first time she ventured into the Notre Dame) watched her and approached her with the impatient air of a man who is naturally bad with children.

"Excuse me child, is it possible that you're lost?" He said as kindly as he could manage. The young girl gave him a look of indifference before shaking her head.

"No, I know where I'm going." She said absently before turning away. He started to say something else but she was already up another staircase. He thought briefly about following her and then shrugged with some bitterness. One of the other monks could deal with it.

The girl continued up the staircase until she came to a walkway that connected to the bell tower. She climbed up a ladder and eyed the various busts and statues that had been cast aside or broken with a vague interest before pushing aside Quasimodo's crude curtains and walking quietly towards the wooden table and the model of the city.

Quasi had worked into the early morning hours carving. At some point he'd fallen asleep.

Aimee approached the bell ringer quietly. His massive head was rested on one of his arms and he was breathing the slow and easy breaths of someone in the depths of sleep. A carving knife lay cast aside in a pile of wood shavings and his most recent project was lying near one of his hands.

Aimee prodded at one of his shoulders experimentally then made a small impatient sound when he didn't budge and climbed up onto the bench. She leaned over one of his arms and poked his cheek. Quasi muttered something imperceptible and buried his head further into his arm.

"Wake up, Quasi." She said while shaking his arm. This time he opened a large blue eye and focused it on her. He blinked and sat up blearily. She smiled.

"Why are you sleeping here?" She asked with some amusement as he rubbed at his eyes.

"I guess I must have dozed off." Aimee grabbed at the small figure he had been carving and held it up.

"Who's she?" She asked as she examined it thoughtfully. "And why's she got a stick?"

"It's a cane." He said as he took it gently from her. "And she's just…someone I met…" He said as he set the figure down again. "It's not finished yet."

"It's pretty. I like the braid." Aimee said cheerfully. "My mom's shopping and she said I could come see you as long as I promised to stay nearby. Do you want to play with me until she's done?"

"Sure." Quasi said with a smile. Aimee jumped up off the bench and grabbed his arm.

"Great! Come on." She said as she pulled him back towards the ladder.

XXX

Quasimodo was lead by Aimee to an old weather-beaten caravan with peeling paint. Inside there was a faded bluish cloth with the city painted on it. He recognized it immediately. Not to mention the man leaning out the window. Clopin's caravan looked as if it was broken down wherever he parked it.

A small group of children had gathered around. A couple of them backed away nervously when they saw Quasimodo.

"Ah, Quasimodo." Clopin said with a mischievous grin. He leaned forward and prodded Quasimodo in the shoulder with a gloved finger. "Dash said he saw you yesterday." His smile faded a little. "Next time you should club a couple of those guys on the head and drag em over to the court of miracles. Then they can get a taste of the other side of life. I guess I should thank you for saving the boy though." The last was almost said absentmindedly, as if he would have been much more pleased if Quasimodo had thumped the guards, but he'd settle for Dash's safety. "Good morning Aimee!" He added brightly.

"Morning Clopin." She returned, smiling.

"Have you told your mother that I'm going to steal you away in your sleep yet?" Clopin asked as he hoisted her up onto the ledge of the caravan window, his smile returning. Aimee laughed, as if he'd said something positively charming.

"No, she said you're a no good thief and that she'd thump me on the ear if I ever came near you again." Aimee said happily.

"Good for her!" He said before turning back to Quasimodo. "Esmerelda gave me the puppets you made, you stopped by at a good time, I was going to practice some part of the play." He interrupted himself with his puppet. "_Do I get to be in the show?" _"No…no one likes you." He snapped at the puppet. "By the way. Are you going to be at the festival?"

"Uh, I was planning on it." Quasimodo said a little cautiously.

"You should help us with the entertainment. Esmerelda told me she'd break my arm if I embarrassed you, but I'm sure there's something you could do that wouldn't result in people throwing stuff at you." Quasimodo grimaced.

"Besides, people love a freak during the festival of fools. _You should know."_ The puppet intermitted. "Shut up you." Clopin retorted. A couple of the children giggled.

"I-I think I'll just watch…this year, thanks." He said.

"Suit yourself. Gather closer children. I hope you don't mind taking a seat in back. You're frightening my audience." Clopin said to Quasimodo. "Stop quivering, he wont bite. He doesn't have to_, _he's got_ fists." _Quasimodo gave Clopin a look and helped Aimee down off of the caravan. They moved a little ways away from the crowd.

"You can get closer if you want." He told Aimee when she sat down next to him. She shook her head and grabbed his sleeve.

For a while, they watched Clopin tell his story, occasionally interrupting himself in a high-pitched voice. Quasimodo had never heard of the play he was mimicking (Frollo had loathed plays, even the biblical sort. He had once said something about how men, running around in colorful clothing pretending to be gods were abominable) nor had he ever been to a play, but he imagined he wouldn't have recognized this one even if h had seen it. Occasionally Quasimodo cast uneasy glances at the crowds on the street.

Aimee was enjoying the play even though she wasn't really able to follow the story (Clopin added a lot of violence and stuff, though so that was all right) At some point she realized that Quasimodo was no longer paying attention. She followed his gaze to a young woman walking on the street. She had a cane. Aimee looked up at Quasimodo again.

"Is that the girl you were carving?" She asked, with fascination. Quasimodo gave her a guilty look.

"Er…" He colored a little. Aimee smiled.

"You should go ask her to come over."

"I-I don't think so." He said, as he looked back at the caravan while absentmindedly bringing his knee up and wrapping his arms around it.

"Why not?" Aimee asked impatiently.

"I'm sure she has…better things to do."

"You can't make friends if you don't talk to people." Aimee said in matter of fact tones.

"I-I can't…" Aimee sighed.

"Fine, I'll ask her to come over." She said as she stood up and headed towards Andie.

"Aimee, no wait!" Quasi called after her. He groaned.

XXX

While walking down the street, Andie felt a tug on her skirts. She blinked and looked down into the face of a small blonde girl with her hair wrapped up in a scarf.

"Hi." The girl said brightly. "My names Aimee."

"Er, Hello Aimee." She said, in slightly bewildered tones.

"Sorry to bother you, but I'm friends with Quasimodo." She said as she motioned towards the opposite side of the street. Andie looked in that direction and could make out the figure of Quasimodo sitting on a short stonewall. He seemed to be trying, unsuccessfully to shield his face with his hand. "He's WAY too shy to ask you to come over and watch the puppet show with us, so I thought I'd come over and ask for him." Andie looked slightly surprised for a moment.

"I was actually…um." Andie started as her gaze returned to the girl. "Well, I…I guess I have some time." She said, a little weakly. Her aunt had probably intended for her to hurry, but then, she could always say she got lost or something. In fact, she had no idea where a tailor was, so this was almost the truth.

"Great." Aimee said happily. She grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the caravan. Andie smiled a little perplexingly.

"Hello again." She said when she reached the hunchback. He gave her a slightly pained look.

"Hello." He said miserably. Quasimodo noted, with some embarrassment that Aimee purposefully sat on the other side of him. He cast the girl an exasperated look.

Andie set her cane aside, sat down carefully and eyed the shabby caravan. The man inside looked a bit like a clown in that he was dressed in very overly embellished colorful clothing and had a mask on. A group of children were hovering nearby, watching with every sign of enjoyment. Occasionally an adult would also wander by, but they didn't stay long.

Andie frowned and watched the show with a sort of horrified fascination. She made an attempt to follow the story, although after a few minutes she began to suspect that the man was making it up as he went along. After a while she gave up and looked sideways at Quasimodo who radiated discomfort. He had his head rested in one of his big hands. Tufts of red hair stuck out in between his fingers. She noticed that he was still trying to conceal his face.

Andie looked back at the caravan and tried to think of something to say that might put the man at ease.

From his other side, Aimee elbowed Quasimodo and motioned towards Andie. She mouthed 'Say something.' He gave her a nervous look, but straightened a little.

"Um…h-how long have you been in the city?" Quasimodo asked shyly. Andie looked at him and he colored a little.

"A couple of days." She said gratefully. "How long have you lived here?"

"Oh, I've always lived here." He said absently. They both went back to awkwardly watching the puppet show. Aimee rolled her eyes.

"Quasimodo rings the bells at the Notre Dame." She said as she grasped his arm and leaned forward to look at Andie.

"Oh? I've heard them in the morning." Andie said. "They're nice."

"Thank you." He said, while casting Aimee a look.

"I read in a book that the biggest bell weighs something like 13 tons…" Andie said. Quasimodo met her gaze again.

"Yeah…Big Marie's probably close to that." He said quietly. "She's only rung on special occasions though." He added.

"Big Marie?" She asked.

"Uh huh, all of the bells have names." He said.

"I didn't know that. You must spend a lot of time in the church."

"Oh yes, I live there." He said bashfully.

"Really?"

"You should come visit. He has a model of the city that he carved out of wood himself." Aimee interrupted, from Quasimodo's side. "It's really good." He looked surprised for a moment and then uneasy.

"Aimee." He whispered wretchedly.

"A model of the city? Really?" Andie asked with interest. "I'd like to see that."

"Y-you would?" He asked while turning back to her.

"Sure…if it's all right." She added.

"Oh. Yeah, sure…a-anytime you like." He said quickly. She smiled a little.

"Well, how about when this is finished." She asked while motioning towards Clopin, who had a small puppet, which incidentally was meant to be the representation of mercy, beating the representation of hope over the head with a wooden sword.

"A-all right." Quasimodo felt his face go another shade of red. He turned back to the puppet show and tried to pay attention.

XXX

After the show was over, Andie followed Quasimodo through the cathedral. Aimee walked alongside her and chatted in the way that most children did. Nonstop and nonsensically, skipping from subject to subject with a seemingly nonexistent attention span.

"Where do you live?" Andie asked as she followed him up a staircase. His limp was even worse then hers. The way he moved was erratic and it looked as if it took a lot of effort.

"In the bell tower." He said from over his shoulder. She was quiet for a moment as she thought of all of the possible responses to this.

"The bell tower? Really? Do you…like it up there?" She asked finally. He might have shrugged, she couldn't tell.

"It's where I've always lived."

When they got there he climbed a ladder and hoisted himself onto the platform. Andie followed more slowly, while staring at the bells, which hung up along the beams in dusty sunlight. Quasimodo offered her his hand. She took it cautiously and was pulled the rest way up.

She wasn't really sure what she had been expecting, but this wasn't it. Andie gaped at the bell tower. It was bathed in sunlight and all manner of colors refracted from a homespun glass mobiles above a small table. On the table were carved buildings and figures along with a mess of paintwork and wood shavings. After a moment she set her cane down and followed Quasimodo. When he reached one of the beams nearby he lingered there awkwardly.

"This is beautiful." She said as she approached him. (Quasimodo had carefully removed his newest piece from the table and set it in a place where she couldn't see it.) "How…did you learn how to do this?" She asked as she leaned over the table. He shrugged.

"I-I taught myself." He said, while playing with his fingers absently.

"How long have you been carving these?" Andie asked. There were tiny intricate details in a lot of the pieces, which looked as if they'd taken a lot patience to fashion out.

"Oh, well, I did most of them this year, but I've been carving for longer." He said as he picked up one of the figures absently.

"They're amazing." She said as she looked at him with something like wonder. He looked away modestly.

"Well…most of them aren't finished." He said as he set the piece down.

Aimee had been circling the table happily. She picked up a piece and handed it to Andie.

"This one's of me." She said. Andie looked at the tiny wooden figure with the little scarf on its head.

"It looks like you." Andie said, as she smiled at Quasimodo. He returned her smile shyly.

She handed the piece back to Aimee and moved around the table eyeing everything with interest. She stopped and eyed the Notre Dame with its tiny replica of the rose window. She ran her finger over the mock window carefully and then, with sme hesitation, took the figure sitting atop the church from its place and examined it.

Of all of the pieces the small one of Quasimodo was the most crude. It looked as if he hadn't spent near as much time on it as he had the others. The paint was chipping and some of the features seemed unfinished. It was almost sad, looking at it.

"How old is this one?" She asked.

Quasi took it from her with some embarrassment. It had been one of the few pieces that hadn't been destroyed when Frollo had gone into his fit of rage. Quasimodo had found it lying in a corner the day after. He'd wondered bitterly, at the time, why it had to be that piece that had survived.

"I-I don't remember…it was one of the first I did." He said, while shaking his head. He set it back up in the church. She watched him for a moment the turned back towards the table and then at the hanging glass pieces above it.

Andie reached up and poked at one of them, sending a series of shapes dancing across the tabletop.

"Did you make these too?" He nodded. "They're so pretty."

"I-I could make you one, if you like." He said shyly. Andie smiled a little.

"Does it take much time?"

"Not really." He said. "Carving takes longer." He said with a shrug. "The glass is mostly left over from the windows."

"Aimee!" A woman's voice cut into the following silence, as it drifted up over the stairway, a look of guilt crossed Aimee's face "Are you up there? I told you to stay out in front of the church!"

Aimee set the wooden figure of her down quickly.

"Uh oh." She said. "I guess I gotta go." She said as she ran towards the ladder. "Bye Quasi, I'll see you later!"

Quasi raised his hand as she disappeared down the ladder.

"Goodbye…" He called after her.

For a moment they both stood in awkward silence. Andie finally broke it.

"I suppose I'd better go too. I have to find a tailors shop." She said from behind him. Quasimodo turned towards her as she picked up her cane again.

"Er, I'm not sure if I can remember the way back down to the front door." She said, a little self-consciously.

"I'll show you." He said kindly as he headed back towards the ladder.

"Thank you." She said. She paused to take one last look at the bell tower before following him down.

XXX

Later that evening, after she found a tailor, Andie stood in her room, stripped down to her underclothes as the woman began to fit her for her cousin's dress, carefully making adjustments based on Adeline's measurements.

The woman muttered under her breath as she moved fabric around Andie's body. Andie sighed and eyed the wall with disinterest. She had never really been fit for a dress like this, and wasn't used to standing still for so long and doing nothing. She couldn't help but think that she could be doing something useful, liking helping Fay with the cooking.

She noted, without much surprise that while the tailor seemed to be poking and prodding at her excessively, she, at the same time, went out of the way to avoid the scars on Andie's back. Most people did, as if they thought that by touching them, their own arms might start sprouting horrible marks. For a moment Andie entertained this notion and imagined, with dark humor a breakout of contagious scars. She smiled bitterly.

"I'm almost done." The woman said absently.

After she was finally left alone, she walked over to the window to open it. She leaned on the ledg and looked out at the city as dusk fell upon it. In the distance, the bells rang.

After a while Andie grabbed her cane and headed down to the kitchen to see if Fay needed any help.

XXX

When Quasimodo finished ringing the bells to mark the hour, he jumped down to the floor below and limped out onto one of the balconies.

On the ledge, the gargoyles stirred. Quasi leaned against the handrail with a sigh, his hair rustling in the breeze.

Nearby the gargoyles seemed to be having a silent argument, nudging one another and whispering energetically. Finally Viktor, who apparently lost said argument, was nudged forward and cleared his throat.

"We couldn't help but notice the presence of a seemingly delightful young woman earlier this afternoon." He said. Laverne rolled her eyes.

"Real subtle Viktor." She said as Quasimodo straightened and looked at them with his eyebrow raised.

"If you wanted to ask him, then why didn't you?" He asked, slightly miffed.

"So own up Quasi, who was she?" Hugo asked while nudging past both of them.

"She was just…a girl I talked to a couple times." He said while turning back towards the city.

"Oh yeah? Been working your charm on her, have ya?" Hugo asked while elbowing him a little.

"Huh?" Quasi asked bewilderedly.

"How wonderful, are you planning on asking her back?" Viktor asked excitedly.

"Uh…" He hadn't really asked her the first time. He started to say 'no.' but Hugo interrupted.

"You know what you should do, play hard to get. Don't let on that you're interested, then she'll be crawling all over you."

"Oh now that's hardly decent advice, I'm sure. He needs to show her he's interested, otherwise how will she know?" Viktor said while casting Hugo a contemptuous look.

Quasi watched both of them with something like growing horror moving acoss his features.

"Look, if there's anything a dame likes, it's a man who's not interested."

"Oh that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Viktor said while crossing his arms.

"Honestly, sometimes you two can be unbearable." Laverne cut in. "Let Quasimodo go about this in his own time. Like you chortling numbskulls would know anything about romance anyways."

"Guys please." Quasi said desperately. "I'm probably not even going to see her again."

"Why ever not?" Viktor asked. Behind him Hugo stuck his tongue out at his back.

"She's not…" He started and then paused with a sigh. "Look, let's just…not do this again okay?" He said as he left the balustrade and headed back into the bell tower.

"What do you mean?" Hugo asked. "Quasi?"

"See what you've done." Viktor said. "You've upset him."

"I've upset him? It was probably you. Your cultured yapping would make anyone sick to their stomachs.

"Oh shut up, both of you." Laverne said as she followed him. Viktor and Hugo stood in wounded silence for a moment before following Laverne.

Quasi sat down at his table and uncovered his paint. He picked up a small brush and began painting one of the houses with a concentration that almost seemed forced.

"What's wrong Quasi?" Laverne asked as she approached him.

"Nothing." He said as he dipped his paintbrush into the bowl.

"You can't fool me, Quasi." She said after a while.

"Yes, we're as old as this cathedral after all." Viktor said.

"Yup, wisdom of the ages." Hugo added.

"Well in your case it's just more persistent daftness." Laverne mumbled.

"I just…would rather not talk about romance…" Quasi said as his paintbrush moved down the side of a building.

"Why not? You don't think she likes you?" Viktor asked, radiating concern.

"I think…that she's very kind." He said carefully. "And that talking about this would just get my hopes up…like last time." He said pointedly. "And I…don't want to go through that again."

"But it might go differently this time." Viktor said persistently. Quasi shook his head.

"I doubt it." He said bitterly. "Look, I want to get this finished before I go to sleep." He said. Viktor looked like he was about to say something else but Laverne grabbed his arm.

"All right Quasi, if you don't want to talk about this then we wont. Come on you two, let's leave him alone." She said sharply as she shoved them towards the ledge again. They both went with some reluctance. Laverne patted Quasi on the shoulder. "Good night Quasi." She said before following them out.

He sighed and continued to paint the tiny structure. After a few moments he looked sideways at a small shelf nearby and stood carefully before limping towards it and pulling the tiny figure out from behind an earthenware vase. He moved back to the table and sat and after staring at the paint and the house for a moment he picked up one of his carving knives and started to work on the figure again, while above the bells glittered like eyes from the moonlight.

XXX

Kind of a long chapter OO. It'd be nice if I finished these at a normal time, rather then…3:00 in the morning. -_-. Anyways, I hope it turned out all right despite half of it being written during ungodly hours. :)

From now on I'm going to answer all of the reviews with the reply thing instead of putting it here. Seemed kind of silly with just one or two people. ^^


	7. Author's Note

Author's Note:

I'm sorry about the crazy long wait. It started as writer's block, but my computer has also been slowly dying for the last three or four months and for the last couple weeks using it has become a hassle.

I opened it up today to finish the newest chapter and wound up spending six hours trying to get rid of a nasty virus instead. It officially died a couple hours ago (Admittedly with the help of my fist…I may be exaggerating) In any case, I can't use it anymore. :(

I had most of the next chapter finished and now that's gone too (At least until I'm able to pull it off of the hard drive, but I'm probably not going to wait that long because I don't know what kind of effect the virus would have on another system if I tried to upload the hard drive somewhere else) So, I'm going to try to re write what I had instead. I should be getting a new laptop soon (Like within the next couple weeks). Until then I'll try to update from an alternate computer. The chapter still wont be up for a couple more days, but I'll try to have it up as soon as possible.

Sorry again for how long this has taken.


	8. Chapter 7

Sorry for the ridiculously long wait. This chapter took longer then I thought because 1. The computer I'm using now that my laptop is gone is my family computer and my parents recently discovered Facebook. 2. I actually thought this comp was going to die yesterday too and I almost cried…it's almost as bad, if not worse then my laptop was, with the added bonus that it isn't virus ridden. And 3. This chapter turned out WAY longer then I thought it was going to be. The next chapter will not be as long as this one, but it also won't be as late. OO

Hopefully I can get my new laptop soon. Until then I'll try to update as often as possible with this piece of crap and from now on I'm going to back up my damn chapters.

Chapter Seven:

But the pattern of flight is chaotic and blind but it's right  
'Cause chaos is yours and chaos is mine.  
Chaos is mine, mine, mine…  
Chaos is love and they say love is blind  
But they're subject to hating us

"Winged/Wicked Things" Sunset Rubdown

It was the day before the Masquerade and Isabelle's face still hadn't cleared up. After spending much of the morning listening to her aunt shout at people and her cousin complain Andie went out to the stalls to care for her aunt's horses.

On her way out she waved to one of the servants who appeared to be grooming and feeding a particularly fine horse, which was wearing so much ornamentation it was almost better dressed then some of the nobleman. He raised a hand with a brush in it in return.

She opened the stable doors and her aunt's horses looked down at her. Andie frowned as she stared up into the large nostrils, before leading them one by one out of the stables and tying them up nearby.

She grabbed a pitchfork, leaning against one of the walls and began to remove the old hay with the aid of a wheelbarrow.

The doors out into the stall area opened and a nobleman and servant headed towards the stable with the fine horse in it. After a while Andie heard raised voices, or rather, one raised voice and another subservient voice responding to the first in a frightful manner.

"You stupid wretch, you call this fine hay?" The first young man shouted.

"Pardon, milord…" The servant said in return.

"This dreck is not fit for swine. Go fetch something better immediately."

"Um, it's the best we have, lord." The young servant answered, his voice squeaking in an adolescent way. There was a long heated pause.

"Well then why don't _you_ eat it you putrid knave." The man finally responded. "Gautier." He added, as he addressed a third party.

"Yes Lord."

"Collect this hay and see that Henri receives it in place of his usual evening meal. Then, when you're finished with your snack, perhaps you'll go out and find some hay fit for my horse!" He delivered the last in a full shout and there was the sound of something organic being kicked, the servant stumbled into a bucket of water, causing it to slosh on the ground as he scrambled towards the door.

Andie stood and walked over to the doorway in time to see the young servant disappear back into the building. The other young man, the nobleman had his back to her.

He was wearing very fine clothing and was tall and had broad shoulders. His dark hair fell in perfectly fashioned curls and he held an air about him that suggested that he was perfectly aware of all of this.

Andie felt a strong urge to tell him off. She refrained from doing so. Her aunt would have been furious if she mouthed off to a nobleman at the Hotel de Saint Pol and even though her and her cousin did not get along, Andie didn't want to purposefully sabotage Isabelle's chances with Prince Bastion.

She had no way of knowing that it was Prince Bastion who she was looking at now. In fact, if she had mouthed off to him, things over the next couple weeks would have been quite different. In any case, completely oblivious to this, she bit back her comments and returned to her work. Settling with muttering below her breath.

"Pompous ass." She whispered as she loaded up some of the so-called substandard hay and began to lay down the bedding for her aunt's horses.

After fussing about his horse for a bit, Prince Bastion returned to the building, his servant trailing after him.

Outside the fence into the stable area a group of peasant children ran by shouting. Aimee was among them. While passing the gate she caught sight of Andie wheeling some hay over to the stall and halted. She approached the gate and leaned against it. After a moment when Andie didn't notice her she spoke.

"What are you doing?" Andie blinked and looked up at the slightly curious face under the tussled blond hair.

"Oh…hello. I'm taking care of my aunt's horses."

"My mom said this is a place for royalty. I'm not supposed to go near here." She said as she pressed her forehead against the gate.

"So she wouldn't be too happy with you right now." The girl shrugged.

"She usually isn't. Wanna play?"

"Well, I have to work right now…" Aimee sighed heavily.

"Why do grownups ALWAYS have to work?" Andie smiled a little. Before she could say something else she heard footsteps behind her. She turned as Captain Gage approached. He caught sight of Aimee and frowned.

"What do you think your doing here kid? No touching the gate." He said, raising his voice a little.

"She's my friend, we were talking." Andie said pointedly. Gage gave her a weary look. When he turned away from Aimee she stuck her tongue out at him.

"His lordship doesn't like peasant's hanging around his property, Miss. I'm sure you can understand his position."

"Ah yes, I can see how standing outside a gate could cause great problems." Andie said sarcastically. Gage blinked, obviously unaccustomed to receiving cynicism from guests at the hotel de Saint Pol…especially those who were mostly servile. "A hanging offense, I'm sure." Gage's frown grew deeper for a moment, before he cleared his throat and kneeled in a little so that his face was inches from hers.

"Madam, if his lordship wishes it, he could find reason to hang whomever he wishes." He said in a voice dripping with warning. "I would watch your mouth, otherwise it may one day get you into trouble." He added quietly. Andie held his gaze for a moment. Her brilliant eyes narrowed before she looked back towards Aimee.

"I'll remember that, sir. I'll be done in an hour or so, Aimee. Perhaps I can play with you then?" Aimee smiled, seemingly unfazed by Gage's remarks.

"Kay. Meet me at the Notre Dame at Noon then." She said happily before detaching from the gate and running off after her friends.

Andie cast the Captain a look before returning to her work.

"How is your cousin this morning." He asked from behind her, apparently unwilling to leave well enough alone.

"She's doing well." Andie lied. "The swelling's going down."

"Really, I'm pleased to hear it." He replied, obviously not believing her. "I do hope she can make his majesty's party tomorrow. It would be a shame to go home so quickly I'm sure."

"Yeah…" Andie said, with some annoyance. She grabbed the wheelbarrow and headed away from him. Apparently taking the hint Gage returned to the building.

XXX

Quasimodo held his newest carving in his large fingers. He was applying the last coat of paint with a small brush. Anyone who saw the hunchback's brutish frame and startling fascia or gazed upon his massive hands and large fingers would have been surprised at how delicately he applied the paint, or how carefully and patiently he rendered detail, his good eye fixed on a specific point with near tenderness.

He finished the last stroke with his brush and after eyeing it critically for a moment, set the piece down to dry.

"Finally finished, eh Quasi?" Laverne said as she hopped over to the table. Quasimodo looked up and nodded.

"I guess so." He said as his eyes swept across the still incomplete houses.

"You've been working on it for the last couple of days." She said while waving a pigeon away from her eye socket.

"Uh huh, well…I had some extra wood." He said quickly, his eyes flickering back and forth between the gargoyle and the tiny carving.

"Well it looks nice." She said while patting him on the arm. "You going to show it to her?"

"What? No!" He said firmly. "…I already said, I'm probably not even going to see…" Quasimodo cut off in mid sentence when he heard heavy footsteps on the stairway up to the bell tower. For a moment he felt panic rise, and had to remind himself that Frollo was no longer around. In any case Frollo had always had a dangerously quiet tread so that he was often able to catch Quasi doing something that would displease him, whereas, this person clearly had no concept of subtlety.

Quasi turned on his bench in time to see Pheobus pulling himself up onto the platform. He straightened and looked around for a moment with the slightest bit of confusion.

"Who were you talking to?" He finally asked after a moment. The only thing that had really changed about the man in the last year was his dress and perhaps the neatness of his hair and facial hair. His skin tone had darkened a little, but because of Pheobus' almost fair façade, he had a habit of burning quicker then he tanned and therefore avoided full sun for very long.

"N-no one…" Quasi said quickly, the slightest tremor of guilt in his voice.

"I thought I heard voices…" Pheobus said while casting a brief look at the bell tower. His gaze rested suspiciously on a pigeon for a moment before he shook his head and approached Quasi.

"No, I was…just talking to myself." Quasi said while turning back to his table.

"Ah…you know…maybe you ought to consider getting out more Quasi." Pheobus said as his eyes swept across the small model of Paris. Quasi didn't reply.

"I actually came by to talk to you about something." He continued after a moment.

"Um, sure." Quasi replied as he went about cleaning his brushes.

"Great…" Pheobus' gaze shifted toward the gargoyle, standing near the table in stone voicelessness, a pigeon nesting between its chiseled horns.

"Why don't we get some fresh air or something, I've spent most of my day in the Court Of Miracles and I'm starting to get a little…cabin fever." Quasi shrugged and stood up.

"All right, let me get my cloak." He said while brushing a few wood shavings off of the table and grabbing a rag to cover his unused paint.

While he did this, Pheobus' gaze fell on Quasi's new figure.

"Oh, hey, what's this one?" He asked as he started to grab for it.

"No!" Quasi said. Pheobus' looked up, startled as Quasimodo's large hand wrapped around his wrist. "It's…still wet." He finished, with some embarrassment. Pheobus nodded, a little uneasily.

"Okay, sorry. Who is it?" He asked as Quasimodo stood and headed towards the curtain that separated his bed area from the rest of the bell tower.

"No one." He said as he grabbed his cloak and swung it across his awkwardly proportioned shoulders before heading towards the ladder.

"Ah...." Pheobus said with some cynicism as he massaged his wrist and followed after the hunchback. "Right…no one."

XXX

After Andie finished in the stables she stopped by the kitchen. It was heavy with steam and very warm, which was nice when coming in out of the late winter chill. At one end, Fay was working at a pot. Ever since her cousin had the allergic reaction to the other chef's food, her aunt refused to let anyone but Fay cook for them.

"What are you making?" Andie asked as she washed her hands in the basin where the other cooks did. Andie wasn't sure that adding horse manure to the basin was sanitary, but considering some of the things that a cook stuck their hands into, it probably didn't make a _whole_ lot of difference.

"Duck." Fay said. "Do you want to help?"

"I was actually going to go into town." Andie replied. "If you like, I can help you with dinner."

"You're going into town by yourself again?" Andie shrugged.

"I didn't get mugged the last two times so I figured I'd give it another try."

"Where are you going to go?" Fay asked as she added some vegetables to the pot.

"The church." Fay gave her a look that said that she didn't fully believe the girl.

"Oh yeah, girls your age generally spend all there time in a church. Just don't get yourself into trouble." She said as she dipped a spoon into the pot and brought it to her lips.

"Doing what?" Andie asked. "I'm going to a _church_."

"Well, you're an impressionable young woman." She looked up at Andie for a moment and smiled as the girl set her head to one side. "All right, not so much impressionable as young, but you know what I mean. Be careful. This isn't the countryside."

"I'll be certain to stay away from dangerous brigands." Andie said cynically.

"Oh, you know what I mean, but I suppose there _are_ a lot of guards about Paris."

"Don't worry." Andie said as she approached Fay. "I'll stay away from them too."

"Ha! Do you want to do me a favor before you run off and traipse about town?"

"Traipse? Sure, I guess." She said as Fay spooned some food onto a plate and slid it onto a tray.

"Take this up to your cousin. I did it this morning and if I have to deal with her sobbing and insults again before dinner I'll slip her some of that fish and hope her tongue swells up." Andie smiled and took the tray.

"I'll send her your kind regards." She said as she headed towards her cousin's room.

When she got there she found her aunt sitting beside her cousin's bed doing crochet. It looked as if she were working on the same piece she had been earlier that week. Isabelle was doing the same, occasionally sniffing or sighing dramatically. Adeline looked up when Andie entered.

"Oh, it's you. I thought you were the tailor with Isabelle's mask. Set it down over there." Andie set the tray down where her aunt had pointed. "Have the horses been seen to?"

"Yes, Adeline." She said.

"Yuck, you were messing about in the horse trough." Isabelle said as she gave the tray a disgusted look.

Andie gave Isabelle a look before carefully ignoring her.

"Incidentally," Adeline said, all the while, not taking her eyes off of her crochet. "Francois was in the drawing room earlier reenacting a war with one of the decorative swords. Please keep better track of him." Before Andie could say anything Isabelle cut in.

"He's so embarrassing!" She said. "I don't see why we can't just let him go. It isn't as if he does anything, anyways."

"Well, once you marry Prince Bastion you'll have plenty of servants and you can do whatever you want with the ones we have now." Andie looked up at her aunt with some surprise.

"You can't just let them go." She said. The woman gave her a sharp look.

"Pardon me? I don't recall asking your opinion."

"But they've been with the family for _years_." Andie said insistently. "Francois worked for Uncle Armande when he was little."

"Which is the problem." Isabelle said. "He's old."

"Andie, while it is true that Francois has worked for my family for many years you must know that it is my privilege and Isabelle's privilege to decide when it is time to let the help go." Adeline said calmly. "I don't mean to offend my dear, but your father was a tailor when he wasn't too drunk to see straight. We may have taken you in, but it's hardly your place to tell us what to do with our servants." She said as she returned to her work. Andie opened her mouth to say something, her face flushed with anger. After a moment she forced herself to refrain from doing so. Nearby Isabelle was watching her with amusement.

"I guess so." Andie said, her eyes flashing. She left the room without another word.

"She has such a wretched temper." Isabelle said from her bed. "It really doesn't become her." Adeline shook her head.

"She learned it from my brother."

A few minutes after Andie left the room there was a knock at the door.

"Yes?" Adeline said from her place at Isabelle's side. A woman entered holding a woven mask.

"I have your mask, madam." She said and held it up. It was lovely. The dress, which was hanging on the wall nearby, was a very pretty powder blue with tiny flowers in the threading and a low cut waist. The mask matched it and was a nice frilly thing with feathers and pearls. Together, they both looked very expensive. Isabelle set her crochet down with a squeal.

"Oh let me try it please!" She said excitedly as she reached out towards the woman. The woman handed it over to her, smiling woodenly as the girl pulled it over her puffy face. "May I try my dress on too?" She asked.

"Not now, dear." Adeline said. "Someone still needs to take it out a bit in the chest. Is there any way to make the mask bigger?" She asked while turning back to the woman. The woman's smile faded a little.

"Bigger?"

"Well, perhaps it could cover her whole face?" The woman eyed Isabelle and resisted the urge to mention that, even if her whole face were covered it would still leave her neck, chest and arms.

"This took some time to fashion, madam. I'm afraid we couldn't have a bigger one done by tomorrow and in any case it would be rather shabby I should think. No one else there will have a mask that covers their lips I assure you." The woman said as politely as she could manage. Adeline frowned and eyed Isabelle.

"Well all right, thank you." The woman nodded and left the room. Isabelle looked as if she were going to burst into tears again.

"Take it off. We'll have to see what we can do with makeup."

XXX

Quasimodo limped after Pheobus as he descended the staircase at the portal of the Notre Dame.

"Great, fresh air. I hate being cooped up in the Court of Miracles for more then a couple hours. I guess it's all the traveling I did in the war. I can't stay in one place for very long." Quasimodo didn't comment.

A couple weeks prior Pheobus had brought it up that he felt a little out of place among the gypsies because apparently Clopin didn't particularly feel that he belonged there and only allowed it because Esmerelda spoke on his behalf. Quasimodo hadn't said anything then either. He had been stuck in the bell tower for twenty years before he saw much of anything else and no one had ever made him feel as if he belonged anywhere.

"Anyways…" He said, suddenly looking a little hesitant, which was a rare thing for the former captain. "Uh, the reason I came down here was to tell you that…well it's been nearly a year and…I think I'm going to ask Esmerelda to marry me."

This information didn't particularly come as a shock, but Quasimodo still felt an unavoidable sinking feeling. He did his best to set it aside and smiled at the man.

"Oh…g-good." Quasi said. "When are you planning on…asking her?"

"Oh, I don't know…soon. I thought I'd tell you first since you're her…well our friend." He said. Quasimodo noticed that the man was looking slightly relieved. There was a pause and an admittedly uncomfortable silence.

It looked as if Pheobus were about to say something else but was interrupted when Aimee ran up to them.

"Hey." She said happily as she grabbed onto a part of Quasi's cloak. She flashed Pheobus a brief smile. From a short distance, the rest of her friends watched her and the hunchback hesitantly. They didn't seem particularly eager to draw nearer. "I asked your friend to play with me. She'll be here soon." Aimee added.

"Huh?" Quasimodo turned to the girl, Pheobus momentarily forgotten.

"From the other day." She said and she prodded him in the shoulder.

"Andie?" He asked, suddenly looking a little nervous. She nodded.

"Who's Andie?" Pheobus asked, from his other side as he leaned against the railing.

"No one."

"Ah." He said with a sigh.

"Do you want to play with us?" She asked as she nodded towards the others.

"Uh..." He cast a brief look at the other children who were watching him with awe and a hint of fear. "I…don't know." Aimee made pouting face.

"_Please_." She said while grabbing at Quasimodo's arm. Pheobus smiled a little. Before he could answer Aimee's eyes fell on an approaching figure. She detached from him and waved a hand in that direction.

XXX

Andie was in a gloomy mood by the time she walked to the church and almost considered not making the venture at all. Before leaving the Hotel de Saint Pol she'd checked Francois' room to make sure he was still there and wasn't doing anything to get him into any more trouble. He had been standing at the window talking to someone in the garden. It had turned out to be a rather frightened maid whom he'd spent the last couple of minutes addressing by a name that was most certainly not hers.

After that, Andie searched the premises to locate Alain after Fay informed her that Charlotte was looking for her brother. She eventually found him in the disused dumbwaiter near the kitchen area. He had shut himself inside and was covered in dust when Andie finally talked him out.

Finally, she grabbed her cloak and cane and headed out the door. At that point she wasn't feeling much pain in her leg. However, a dull ache had begun behind her left eye. She imagined that it would soon turn into a considerable headache.

At least the weather was looking better. It was still cold, but the air was crisp and the sun was bright.

When she finally did reach the Notre Dame Aimee advanced on her. Andie gave her a wane smile as the girl practically bounced up and grabbed her hand, pulling her in the direction of the church. Nearby a group of children were playing idly (playing was a strong word. Mostly they threw pebbles and the boys hit each other) and occasionally looked at the blonde girl with some impatience.

Quasimodo, who was sitting on the bottom stair, met her eyes briefly. He looked about as stressed out as she felt. There was another man there too. He was tall and blonde and looked a little out of place. He was wearing peasant clothing but had the build of an officer. Andie searched her memory briefly, trying to remember where she had seen him before. When she got closer she remembered. He had been with the gypsies she'd seen on her first day in Paris.

She cast Quasimodo a brief smile. He returned it shyly.

Andie turned towards the stranger, who was watching her. She felt a bit uncomfortable as his eyes flashed briefly to her cane. For a moment it looked as if he were thinking about something.

"Ah," He said brightly, while flashing a winning smile. "This looks like the girl you were carving." Andie was in a position to see Quasimodo's face. There was a twitch of surprise in his deformed features and then it went crimson.

Perhaps the man noticed this too because he quickly cut in once again.

"You must be Andie. I'm Pheobus…his friend." He added while nodding to the hunchback, who flashed him a dark look. Andie took the man's hand when he offered it. To her surprise he kissed it quickly. Neither of them noticed, but Quasimodo quickly averted his eyes. 

"You look really familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before?" He asked after he straightened again.

"Yes." Andie replied, looking slightly bewildered. "I tossed a coin to you." The man looked confused for a second before that dissolved into embarrassment.

"Ah, yes, well it's harder then it looks." He said, once again flashing that slightly flirtatious smile.

"I imagine so." Andie said, recalling that this man had been sitting behind the hat, while the gypsy woman had been dancing and another gypsy had been playing an instrument.

"Especially with all of the soldiers around lately." He added with a sigh. "Eh Quasi?" He said while nudging the other man. Quasimodo gave him an exasperated look. This Pheobus at least, did pick up. For a moment he hesitated.

"Uh…" He said as Quasimodo looked away again. "I think I should get going." He said, while casting him an apologetic look. "It was nice meeting you." He said while nodding politely at Andie.

"Well talk later, okay?" he said as he clapped Quasi on the shoulder. The hunchback nodded wearily.

XXX

"Come on, let's play!" Aimee said impatiently as she grabbed Andie's hand and began dragging her towards the other children. She cast a questioning look at Quasimodo.

"Are you coming?" He shook his head.

"I-I'll watch." He said. Aimee frowned and then shrugged.

When she got to the group of kids, Aimee introduced Andie to each of them one at a time, as they watched her with wide-eyed interest and in some cases childlike listlessness.

"Why do you have a stick?" A chubby boy (Aimee had introduced him as Ansel) in a tunic with a hood asked when the young girl stopped talking.

"It helps me walk." Andie answered.

"Why do need help walking?" He said, while picking his nose.

"Well…my leg doesn't work right." She said.

"My grandpa has one of those…but he's _old_." He said, emphasizing the last bit.

"Oh…well…that's nice." Andie said with a sigh.

"What are we going to play?" Aimee interrupted. There were a few shrugs.

"We could play tag." A thin boy named Harvey said as he adjusted his hat.

"Nuh uh. She needs a stick to walk, stupid." Ansel replied.

"Uh that's okay I can…" Andie started, before getting interrupted.

"Well then she can come up with something." Harvey said while crossing his arms.

Aimee looked at Andie.

"Do you know any games?" She asked, while putting her head to one side. Andie frowned for a moment.

"Well…have you ever played blind man's bluff?" Andie asked. A couple of the children shrugged. One of the boys was picking at his teeth. "It's probably not as popular in the city…" Andie said in the face of the silence. "Generally it's played in a field or meadow. It can be a little dangerous in a cramped area." They brightened a little. Nothing attracts children like the promise of danger.

"How do you play?" Ansel asked.

"Well…" Andie started. "First you get a blindfold…your scarf should work, Aimee, if you don't mind." The girl smiled and pulled it off, handing it over to the older woman.

"Basically, it's _like_ tag, but you don't move as fast…so I can play too." Andie said as she took the scarf and started to fold it up. "The person who's it wears a blindfold. The idea is to make noise so that that person can find you. If they do catch you, you're it, but at the hospice where I grew up, we always played the version where you had to also guess who it was you caught…just to make things a little more difficult."

"That sounds like fun." Aimee said brightly. The other children mumbled their agreement.

"All right, then, who wants to go first?" Andie asked. The children eyed one another. No one looked particularly eager to volunteer. Aimee cast a brief look at Quasimodo who was sitting on the steps and watching Andie tentatively. She smiled a little.

"Why don't you go first since it's your game?" Aimee said brightly. Andie shrugged.

"All right, but before we start I think there ought to be some rules." She said in serious tones as she pulled the blindfold over her eyes and began to tie it behind her head.

"Aw." Harvey groaned. "Rules are dumb."

"First of all, your not allowed to throw things," Andie continued, ignoring him. "Secondly, don't lead me or each other into fountains or ditches or anything. Anyone who tries that automatically has to be it. And lastly, everyone has to make sure that whoever is it doesn't walk into other people on the streets; we don't want to get into trouble. Got it?" The boys in the group looked a little less enthusiastic about this but murmured their agreement.

Andie made sure to set her walking stick aside before they started the game.

Once she was wrapped in the darkness she began moving, she heard laughter and a few shrieks as the children in her path scrambled to get out of the way. She smiled a little as she thought of a time over ten years prior when she'd played this with the other children at the Hospice. She didn't always play because of her leg, but she enjoyed being it when she did. There was something exciting about the darkness, and the feeling like the world had somehow dropped away from you. She'd often wondered if it was how sarge felt all the time.

From nearby, Aimee eyed the hunchback again. He was watching the woman with a hint of a smile on his face. Aimee grinned. If Quasimodo wasn't going to join in on his own, she was going to force him to.

She carefully moved around Andie until she was in a position where her back was to the hunchback and tugged on the woman's skirt. Andie turned towards her and Aimee moved a little closer to the Notre Dame. The woman took a few steps forward, a little carefully.

One of the boys started making noise, but before she could turn in another direction, Aimee prodded her lightly on the leg. She turned once again towards the young girl and once again Aimee moved a little closer to the Notre Dame. Things continued in this way for the next few minutes. Whenever Andie got sidetracked with someone else Aimee would direct her attention back on her until finally she reached the staircase.

Quasimodo eyed the girl confusedly as she mounted the stairs and took cover behind him.

"Hey!" Aimee said from behind him. "Over here!"

He opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get a chance to. Andie took the last step towards the staircase, which was, unfortunately on an incline. She gasped as she tripped and fell into the hunchback's lap. He grunted in surprise before his face contorted into a look of absolute horror.

"Quasimodo?" She muttered after a moment, slightly disorientated. Andie tried to struggle back to her feet. She felt a brief shock of pain in her bad leg and hissed between her teeth before nearly falling back down again. This time he was able to grab her before she could. She felt the grasp of his strong hands as he hoisted her back onto her feet.

"Oh God, I-I'm so sorry." He said desperately. Andie pulled off the blindfold and met his agonized expression.

"It's all right." She said as she rubbed her leg briefly. She eyed Aimee, who was smiling a little. "I said we _weren't _supposed to run into people."

"Sorry." Aimee said, not looking as if she was at all. Andie's gaze fell back onto Quasimodo who was emanating uneasiness. After a moment she gave him a soft smile.

"Well, I guess your it." She said.

"What?" He responded, his eyes widening as if she'd suggested something far worse.

"I caught you. That makes you it."

"B-but I…" He started as Aimee hopped down the stairs and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, Quasi." She said insistently.

"I-I don't…I-I cant…" He stammered as she pulled him towards the other children who were observing the situation with uncertainty. Andie eyed them briefly and for a moment felt a little concerned. She approached the hunchback who gave her a slightly miserable look.

"Don't worry." She said gently as she pulled the blindfold over his eyes. "Just try not to move too quickly." He reached up and touched the blindfold as she tied it behind his head. He felt her move away and he was left in darkness. He sighed.

For a moment he didn't move, then he slowly proceeded in his erratic gait, his large hands in front of him. Andie eyed the children, who were watching him with wide eyes, some slightly frightful, some amused. She cast Aimee a brief look of uncertainty. The girl shrugged.

Andie grabbed her cane and continued to watch him. After a while she began to relax. He moved as if he were used to walking around in darkness, and seemed to pause whenever he was too near a wall or something. She wondered briefly how dark the bell tower was. It had seemed fairly cramped, on moonless nights it was probably somewhat precarious.

Things went fairly well until Harvey, who had been hanging back and watching the hunchback with a contemptuous air, decided to pick up a nearby rock and hoist it at the man. It hit him in the ear. The stone was small enough so that it probably didn't hurt him much; nonetheless Quasimodo stopped as if stricken. One of the other children chuckled and picked up another stone. He pulled his arm up to block the few stones that followed.

It might have gone further if Andie hadn't stepped in.

"I said no throwing things!" She said angrily. The children ceased in their actions and watched her with contrived innocence. She pulled the blindfold off of Quasi revealing his wounded blue eyes. Andie turned a scornful look towards the boy who started it.

"You broke the rules first." She said in solid tones as she extended the blindfold towards him. "That makes you it." The boy scoffed.

"I don't want it."

"It's either that, or you're out of the game." She said.

"I didn't want to play anymore anyway." He mumbled. "Come on, guys, this games stupid, let's play somewhere else." A couple of the children hesitated, but after a moment they followed him. Ansel shrugged at Aimee before running after them.

Andie shook her head and looked sideways at the hunchback, who was staring at the ground miserably.

"I'm sorry." She said. He met her eyes briefly, before looking away again, a pained expression on his face, contorting his already badly distorted features. She looked at the blindfold before handing it over to Aimee.

"Those guys aren't any fun anyways." Aimee said after a moment as she grabbed at Quasimodo's hand. "_We_ can still play."

"I-I think…I think I'm just going to…go back to the bell tower." Quasimodo said, while gently detaching his hand from hers.

"You don't want to play anymore?" Aimee asked.

"I have a lot of work to do." He added while casting a slightly humiliated look at Andie before turning back towards the Cathedral.

"Oh…okay." Aimee said a little morosely. She turned her eyes towards Andie. "I guess I'm going home too then." She said, while throwing her hands up. Andie raised her hand as the girl walked away gloomily. She stood where she was for a moment, eyeing the Quasimodo's retreating figure.

XXX

Quasimodo was surprised when he felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned, with his eyebrows raised.

"Hey, hold on." He frowned, but gave her his attention.

"I…uh…" Andie started, with some embarrassment. "I was just thinking that…I um…haven't seen much of the city and, well you said you've lived here for a while…I was just wondering if you could show it to me some time." Quasimodo eyed her in disbelief.

"You want me to?" He asked after a moment.

"Sure." Andie said a little nervously.

"Uh…okay…" She smiled a little.

"Good, thanks, I'll um…see you soon then." He nodded, a little mystified. She turned and headed away. He watched her until she was out of sight then turned back towards the portal, feeling slightly stunned.

XXX

When Andie returned to the Hotel de saint Pol she helped Fay finish dinner and then took the tray to her cousin, who was laying in bed, stewing in her own self pity. Andie set her tray down, and for a moment felt some rare sympathy for the girl.

Adeline looked over. She was sipping at a glass of wine and crocheting by candlelight.

"Where have you been?"

"No where.' Andie said casually. "Just getting things done."

"Well, Isabelle's dress needs pressed before tomorrow. See to it please."

"Oh what's the point? I'm hideous." The girl said before Andie could respond, bursting into tears. Andie took the dress and, for some reason felt a curious urge to say something nice.

"I…think your face has cleared up quite a bit." She started as she draped the dress over her arm. Isabelle turned a scornful eye towards her.

"Oh shut up." She said.

_Well so much for being nice. _Andie thought while sighing inwardly.

"You don't know what it's like…you can hide those ugly scars of yours." She added. Andie frowned, feeling a moment of irritation before heading out the door wordlessly. Adeline watched her go.

Her sharp eyes fell on the mask still sitting on the end table near her daughter. She pursed her lips before picking it up.

"Wipe your nose Isabelle, act like a lady for goodness sake." She said as he handed the girl a handkerchief and quietly followed Andie out the door.

She caught up with her at her own room.

"Hold on a moment, Andie." Andie stopped and gave her aunt a questioning look. The woman held the mask up in front of her face, much to Andie's bewilderment.

"You know…with a bit of stuffing and a lot of makeup…it could work."

XXX


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Masquerade!

Paper faces on parade . . .

Masquerade!

Hide your face,

so the world will

never find you!

"Masquerade" Andrew Lloyd Weber

It was the morning of the Masquerade and it was early enough so that the sun had not yet begun to rise. Andie yawned as Adeline circled around her. She was standing in the center of her bedroom wearing Isabelle's gown. The dress felt heavy on her. It was hard to imagine that women actually desired to be dressed in this way.

"Stop sagging Andie." Adeline said sharply. "Ladies don't sag." Andie sighed and straightened. She had been up for the majority of the night and was beginning to get tired. Adeline and her cousin had argued for the first half of the evening, that was until her cousin finally passed out due to what Andie suspected was a mixture of breathlessness due to crying and dramatics. The second half of the evening had mostly consisted of Adeline complaining about how she didn't have a proper figure and was too skinny and trying to lecture her on etiquette. Andie didn't really understand the point of etiquette. As far as she good tell it was a way of being polite and respectful without actually meaning it.

On one side of the room, Charlot was nodding off in a chair. Adeline had woken her up an hour prior. Occasionally jostled her awake and send her to fetch something.

"I don't think this is going to work." Andie said while eyeing Charlot as the girl nearly fell off of the chair after briefly dozing off. She straightened and gave Andie a self-conscious smile.

"I haven't many other options, Andie." Adeline said with annoyance. "Obviously, I'd much rather Isabelle be well enough to attend herself, but she can't possibly go looking the way she does." Adeline thinned her lips a little as she adjusted one of Andie's sleeves.

"But I don't look anything like Isabelle." Andie said. "Even with a mask on and a little stuffing anyone could tell us apart."

"His majesty hasn't seen Isabelle yet. Besides, it will be night and you will not be there for long. Once people have seen you, make an excuse to leave, pretend to faint or something."

"You want me to pretend to faint?" There was cynicism in her voice.

"Faint, pretend to be dizzy, I don't care. This will work if you do as I say." She stood back a little and examined Andie. After a moment she sighed.

"Charlot, go fetch some more clothe and some makeup, a lot of both, and while your out find someone in this place who knows how to cut hair." Andie raised her eyebrows.

"Yes miss." Charlot said quietly before casting Andie an apologetic look.

"You're going to cut my hair?" Andie asked.

"I sent one of the servants out to find a blonde wig. Your hair has to be short enough so none of it sticks out. Some of the higher-class ladies wear wigs. Its made out of peasant's hair…hopefully whoever it was taken off of didn't have lice or fleas or anything."

Andie hadn't had a haircut since she'd lived with her father. Occasionally, when he'd gotten really drunk he'd taken a razor and cut her hair off. Sometimes he'd cut it within an inch of her scalp. She remembered being seven and clutching the side of a stool while the blade pressed against her neck. Andie shivered briefly and after a moment she shook the memory from her head before looking outside the window. As she did the bells of the Notre Dame started ringing.

_Well, it's dawn. _She thought to herself. _It's going to be a long day. _

XXX

Esmerelda mounted the stairs up into the bell tower just as the sound of the bells died down. Djali was trailing after her and making clip clopping sounds as her hooves hit the floor.

To her the bell tower had a certain warmth to it. Even with the thunderous bells and the rats and chilliness of the late winter, early spring air, there was a quiet serenity here. She sometimes wondered if it felt differently to Quasimodo. She imagined it was difficult to feel warmth in a place that had, more or less, been ones prison for twenty years.

As the bell ringer descended the ladder to the lower area of the belltower he caught sight of Esmerelda. After his initial surprise passed he brightened. Esmerelda smiled at him.

"Morning Quasi." She said.

"Good morning. I didn't know you would be coming." He said as he smiled. "H-how are you?" He added awkwardly as Esmerelda took his hands happily.

"Pheobus said he spoke to you yesterday, so I guess you've already heard." She said while smiling.

He nodded after a moment; he'd nearly forgotten his conversation with Pheobus the day before, which was actually a bit surprising considering the subject.

"Oh…yes." He said, while feeling his spirits lower a little.

"He asked me to marry him last night." She said. "Clopin is a little irked because being married to me would officially make Pheobus a gypsy, but I think he'll get over it." She added. The way she said this suggested that if Clopin didn't get over it he would be in for some trouble. Quasi nodded in a slightly distant manner as he tried to mask his disappointment.

"We're going to wait until after the Festival of Fools, because everyone's so busy right now." Esmerelda continued, unaware of this. "We're probably getting married down in the Court Of Miracles. Pheobus isn't used to our kind of weddings, but I don't think he'll protest." Quasimodo pulled his hands from hers and grabbed his cloak and broom, while nodding absently. Esmerelda paused and watched him for a moment.

"Are you all right?" She asked, while taking on a softness that she reserved for the hunchback. Quasimodo sometimes felt that it was same softness someone might show a child. This would occasionally saddened him, but he'd been so unaccustomed to being shown any sort of kindness previous to meeting her. Because of this he still felt a great deal of gratitude towards her for the affection she did show him, regardless of whether not she saw him as a man or not.

"Oh, I'm fine…just…tired." He said vaguely. "I-I'm very happy for you, Esmerelda." He added, while trying to pretend that this was so. She smiled again.

"Pheobus was wondering if you'd like to come." Esmerelda said, while touching his shoulder lightly. "It would mean a lot to me if you did." She added. He smiled his sad smile in return and nodded.

"Of course I will."

"Good. I should get going. I need to head down to the bridge. Bastion's having some sort of party today so most of his men are going to be preoccupied and Clopin said it would be a good time to make some money. Do you want to come?" She asked as she picked up Djali.

"I need to get my chores done." He said. "M-maybe later." She nodded and started back down the stairs. She paused a few steps down and turned.

"I almost forgot. Pheobus also mentioned you had a new friend, a young women?" Quasi colored a little.

"I-I don't know if we're friends." He said a little timidly. "I-I've only seen her a couple times."

"He said she seemed nice." She said. There was some curiosity in her voice.

"Oh yes…she's very kind…" he said shyly. She smiled and although it was a genuine smile, there was some concern in it.

"I'm glad your making friends, Quasi." She said softly. "If you do decide to come down to the bridge be careful okay? Clopin told me about Dash. I don't think it'll take much to tick off Bastion's guards." She added. He nodded as she continued her descent.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs and reintered the main area of the church she set Djali down and headed towards the portal door.

In truth, when Pheobus had told her that Quasimodo had been, apparently making friends with some young woman, Esmerelda had felt a little uncomfortable. Ever since the whole ordeal with Frollo, she couldn't help but feel a little protective of him. Because of this and all of the trouble Bastion was causing them of late, she had grown naturally distrustful.

On the other hand, she also wanted Quasimodo to be happy and he did deserve to have more friends. She only hoped that this girl _was_ kind and that she was bright enough to see Quasimodo as she saw him and not as some others did.

XXX

The haircut itself had been brief and unceremonious. The woman who had done it had used scissors and although she hadn't paid a great deal of time making sure it was even, at least she hadn't nicked an ear or anything.

Andie sat down on the edge of her bed and ran her fingers through her now shortened hair, while staring at the wig that a servant of the hotel de saint pol had brought up. Adeline had stepped out briefly to see to Isabelle, who had awoken again apparently and who's shouting could be heard from Andie's room

"Are you really going to the masquerade?" Charlot asked from her seat.

"It looks that way." Andie replied bitterly as she lowered her hand.

"I wonder how it will be." Charlot said after a moment. Her voice had a listless quality to it.

"I'd rather not find out." Andie said as she yawned and rested her chin in her hand.

"Your not even a little bit curious?" Charlot asked.

"Not really…I think this is a little desperate, to be honest. Besides, you've seen upper-class parties before. It's mostly standing around, drinking tempered wine and insulting anyone who's not in the room."

"But Miss Isabelle gets to do everything and she's useless and mostly you just make sure all of the rest of us are getting along okay."

"I don't mind helping out with the cooking and chores. Besides Isabelle knows how to behave that these sorts of things. I don't."

"But wouldn't you rather be at a party instead of serving the drinks?" Andie made a motion for Charlot to keep quiet as Adeline returned.

"Stand up, lets see how it looks." Adeline said while picking up the wig. Andie stood obediently.

Adeline pulled the wig over Andie's head and began stuffing her dark hair underneath. It smelled strange, like a mixture of chemicals, powder and strange animals. Andie tried to hold her breath. After her aunt finished she stood back.

"I suppose it's the best we can ask for. Lets do your makeup."

XXX

Bastion stood in front of a mirror and smoothed down one of the sleeves of his doublet. A servant approached him with a velvet cap and he waved him away.

"Just fetch my mask." He said as he ran his fingers through his curls.

"Yes sir." His servant replied as he left the room.

Marcel passed the servant on his way in. He bowed a little to Bastion, who ignored him.

"You are looking very fine milord." Marcel said. Bastion was very extravagantly dressed. His sleeves bulged slightly and opened up so that part of them hung to his side like a lady's train. The fabric of his clothing was dyed with very expensive colors and the whole thing was adorned with golden trim. Bastion didn't acknowledge the statement. He was already aware that this was the case.

"Are you eager to meet the ladies this evening?" Marcel continued idly.

"Eager to meet the fat daughters of nobleman?" Bastion said as he slipped on a pair of fine shoes. "Oh certainly. I am agog."

"I'm sure some of them will be quite pretty." Marcel said evenly. He'd worked for the royal family for a long time and had a great deal of patience.

"I envy your certainty, and the fact that it will not be you who is dancing with them this evening, nor will it be your task to listen to them speak."

"Keep in mind that one of the ladies _will_ mostly likely be your future wife." Marcel said.

Bastion scowled as the servant returned with his mask. The prince took it and eyed it wearily.

"I don't understand why people favor these things." He said as he pulled it over his eyes, careful not to tussle his hair. "And why are they made so ugly?" He added as he moved his fingers over the bulbous nose.

"I think it looks very fetching on you sire." Marcel said.

"I think it's foolish." Bastion replied as he turned and headed towards the door.

XXX

On the other side of the Hotel De Saint Pol, Andie was also standing in front of a mirror, although she didn't appear to be enjoying it much.

"This looks ridiculous." She said.

"I rather think it's an improvement." Adeline said. "Besides, it will be dim."

"It had better be really dim." She shifted with discomfort. Everything was uncomfortable, everything from the itchy wig, to big stupid dress to the shoes that would most likely render her unable to walk by the end of the evening. Adeline had also rubbed makeup across her face because her skin tone was too dark. She kept resisting the urge to wipe it off.

In truth, she didn't look as bad as she thought. True, they'd put enough makeup on her face so that it would probably not be a good idea to get too close to anything and her hair was not her own and there was a certain level of discomfort in the way she stood, but in the dim light all of this was not readily evident. She very nearly could pass off as Isabelle, at least to someone who didn't know her very well.

"I'm going to grab my cloak." Adeline said. "Put your mask on and join me downstairs in a few minutes." Andie nodded wearily as she took a few steps away from the mirror. "And please don't limp. Try to be graceful for heaven's sake."

_It's going to be difficult to walk at all. _She thought as her aunt left the room.

Fay, who had been coming back from Isabelle's room with a full tray of food, stopped in the hall as Adeline passed her and raised her eyebrow at Andie.

"What are you supposed to be?" She said once the woman had moved out of earshot.

"A proper lady." Andie said with a sigh as she picked up the mask. "I'd spit after saying that, but Aunt Adeline said I should avoid doing anything that I learned from watching you. How's Isabelle?"

"Ha, pretty normal as I can tell. She's been blubbering all afternoon. So your going to the ball are you?" Fay said, slightly amused.

"So it seems. I think it's likely that tonight may be a complete and utter disaster." Fay shrugged.

"I wouldn't worry too much. Just enjoy it…you wont get another chance to do something like this after all."

"I'm really hoping that this is the case." Andie said with a sigh. Fay smiled and nudged her.

"Who knows, maybe something'll come from all of this."

"Yeah, maybe I'll break my other leg in these shoes." She said as she pulled the mask over her face.

XXX

Bastion's servants had gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that things were extravagant and impressive. A portion of the Palace of Justice was being utilized for the celebration during which no other business was to be done. (A masquerade is far less enjoyable when one can hear people screaming and being tortured…then again, you never know with some people.)

A large empty room, where occasionally mysteries were performed was cleared out and decorated with great tables, groaning under the weight of meat and bread. Candles had been set all around the walls and were casting a faint glow. There was also a great deal of brandy and wine being handled by servants, to ensure that everyone would enjoy the evening.

Prince Bastion stepped out of his carriage and eyed the building wearily before he mounted the stairs and passed under the gateway. Captain Gage followed behind him, grabbing a brandy from a nearby servant who was waiting at the doorway in case there were guests who didn't like to waste any time in getting drunk. Marcel greeted them in the middle of the floor. He cast Gage a snide look, which the captain returned with a scowl. Marcel managed to combine brown nosing and snobbishness in a manner that frustrated anyone who paid too close attention.

"Your servants did a fine job." Marcel said to Bastion.

"I think it looks rather dreary." Bastion said as beside him Gage took what was, perhaps too large a drink from his cup to keep from saying anything that would get him in trouble.

"Perhaps a few more candles?" Marcel asked, a smile frozen on his face.

"Perhaps a fire?" Bastion replied. "I hope my wedding is more elegant."

"Well, I'm sure it shall be, milord. This is, after all only a week's work."

"You should be out front greeting the ladies I think." Gage said wearily, he was not as patient a man as Marcel and therefore found it more difficult to smile and nod when he thought a young man, even of royalty was being a pompous little tit.

"Why don't _you_ greet the ladies?" Bastion said with a yawn as he took a glass of wine from a servant girl, who blushed and curtseyed. "I shall be entertaining them all evening." He added as he headed across the room. Marcel gave Gage a smile before following the prince. Gage sighed and headed back towards the door.

XXX

Looming. That was the word that Andie thought as the carriage pulled up beside the Palace of Justice. She'd heard that it was where people were tried and tortured. It looked it. The castle stretched out and kissed the sky like a twisted sculpture. The stones that made up the structure were dark and Andie imagined that even in the day they didn't take in much sunlight. In some ways it reminded her of the Notre Dame, except that even with the eerie statues and the gargoyles there seemed to be less cruelty on the face of the church.

"Why didn't he have this party at The Hotel de Saint Pol?" Andie asked.

"There's no elegance in attending a party that you can't arrive to in style." Andie considered this for a moment.

"That's kind of ridiculous isn't it?" Adeline gave her a sharp look.

"Just keep quiet." She said after a moment. "And don't slouch so."

Andie sighed. She looked out the window in time to see Gage out in front of the building welcoming the guests on the carriages.

"It's Captain Gage. He still thinks Isabelle is swollen from the fish." She said in a whisper.

_It's probably a safe bet that he's drunk, but perhaps not drunk enough yet._ She thought.

"Quiet." Adeline said as the carriage pulled up to the man. He opened the door. Andie fought the urge to cover her face.

"Madame Beauvais." Gage said with a hint of surprise as Adeline stepped out. "I'm pleased that you could make it. And your daughter is improved?"

"Oh yes, she's much better. Come Isabelle." She said, with a slight edge in her voice that perhaps only her niece caught. Andie exited the carriage awkwardly, trying not to tangle her legs in the massive skirt.

She curtseyed a little shakily and nearly stumbled when her bad leg groaned with the effort. Adeline cleared her throat and as she straightened again she could see a hint of annoyance in her aunt's gaze. .

"I'm glad you're feeling better miss." Gage said. There was a look on his face that she didn't particularly like. Something like amusement. "You makeup is quite…lovely this evening." He added. Andie picked up the contemptuous quality in his voice.

"Thank you, sir and your breath doesn't yet reek of brandy." She said before she could stop herself.

Gage blinked as Adeline took Andie's arm.

"We'll not waste any of your time sir, it looks as if another carriage is pulling up." She said as she pulled Andie towards the palace of justice.

"Er…yes…have a nice evening." Gage said while Adeline hurried her away.

"If you can't speak like a lady then don't speak at all!" Adeline whispered sharply to her.

Andie wasn't listening. They had just walked through the threshold of the massive building. Entering the Palace of Justice was like walking into a different world. Andie felt her heart sink as she took in the massiveness of the room.

There was a certain twinkling quality about it all. Lords and Ladies were standing around dressed like peacocks and there was a strong smell of wine and pork and brandy as well as various perfumes. It was clear that his guests were not the only noblemen attending this ball. There were tons of twinkling people milling about.

On one corner a band was playing. Compared to the music on the street, being played by the gypsies and beggars, this music, though most certainly more organized, was not quite as energetic and therefore, not nearly as interesting. It filled the room with a lulling quality.

Suddenly, as she stepped into this room, Andie felt entirely out of her element.

XXX

Once again, I realize that this is ridiculously late. I started school the day after submitting my last chapter so that's eaten up most of my time. I go to an art college and that tends to sap all of my creativity, so the stuff I do on my own suffers a bit. Also, I've spent a long time on this chapter…it's given me a lot of problems and I've changed it five or six times. There are pages of text I didn't use because I hated it and I wound up cutting it in half because it was getting way too long. I'm still not sure about it. Hopefully it turned out all right.

Good news is that I now have most of the next chapter done too, so mostly I just need to do some editing. Also I've got my new laptop, so that's no longer a problem. Trying to work at my home computer was killing me (Plus, it got the same virus as my old laptop a month ago…this time it wasn't my fault)

I realize there wasn't a lot of Quasi in this chapter, but I assure you that there will be lots more later, if not in the next chapter then most certainly in the chapters afterward, which will be nice because it means we're finally getting to the stuff I wanted to write.

Anyways, Thank you for all of the reviews and I'm sorry again for how slow it's been.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Masquerade!

Seething shadows

breathing lies . . .

Masquerade!

You can fool

any friend who

ever knew you!

"Masquerade" by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Because this chapter was originally supposed to be part of the last chapter.

"Ah… good evening to you Madame..." A skinny man said as he approached from across the massive room, snapping Andie out of her thoughts. He left the sentence hanging in the air with a question mark at the end.

"Madame Beauvais." Adeline said.

"Ah yes. Widow to the late Armande Beauvais. And this must be your lovely daughter. I am Marcel D'Aubigne, I advise the royal family." He added as he bowed to Andie. She smiled nervously.

"Good to meet you masseur D'Aubigne." Adeline said as she offered the man her hand. He took it and bowed again.

"Perhaps you would like to meet some of the Lords Madame Beauvais, I'm sure some of them knew your husband. Meanwhile I shall see to your daughter?" Adeline hesitated for a moment before smiling contemptuously.

"Of course monsieur D'Aubigne." She said, "Try not to do anything foolish." She added in a whisper before sweeping away across the floor.

"Allow me madame?" Marcel said as he offered her his arm. Andie took it awkwardly and allowed him to direct her into the massive room.

"Erm…where are we going?" Andie risked as he led her across the room.

"Due to the extreme importance of the occasion…at least to his highness, I have been instructed by Duke Delaflote to direct the ladies to the groups that they would be… most comfortable in." Marcel said.

"Er…all right." Andie said, while focusing on walking in the extremely uncomfortable shoes. He halted in one corner of the room.

Nearby, a couple of young women were speaking with one another in a very specific type of civil language. (The sort that involves a lot of insults masked as compliments.) There were certainly not the sort of people Andie felt comfortable with…but then, she doubted there were many people in the hall that she would. She also decided that doing something foolish probably included talking to anyone, or eating anything or, perhaps, moving at all.

"Here you are milady, I am certain Lord Bastion shall be along directly to greet all of you."

After he left Andie was aware that a couple of the girls were casting her some less then friendly glances.

"Have you set your eyes upon his lordship yet?" She heard one of the girls, a young woman with a massive chest and red hair ask another thinner girl with an eagle like mask on.

"Oh yes." The girl answered in a shrill voice that reminded Andie of Isabelle. "He looks very fine in his costume."

"I rather like his tights." Another girl said in a low voice and then giggled.

Andie, who was already hanging on the edge of the small group moved slowly away from the girls, to an area of the room that was mostly vacant, with the exception of an impressively fat and rather elderly looking man in fine clothing who had dozed off in the corner. He was snoring loudly and muttered occasionally to himself. The chair he was sitting on groaned under his weight.

Andie examined the room again; she'd never been in such exceptional surroundings. Lamps hung on the walls with candles blazing and because of them everything looked golden. The guests shimmered. Never in her life had she felt more out of place.

Perhaps sensing her desire to remain unnoticed, a servant approached her from across the room with a tray of drinks.

"Wine madam?" He asked, while wearing a smile that could have best been described as polite.

"Do you have anything stronger?" She asked wearily.

"We…er have Brandy…but you wouldn't want any of that." He added.

"You'd be surprised." She said with a sigh. The man shrugged and handed her a glass. She took a drink of it. He was watching her in the way a bartender might watch a young man who'd never had a drink before and who has, by way of bad judgment just ordered the strongest thing in the bar.

"How is it madam?" He asked when the expected reaction did not occur.

"A bit watery." She looked up. "Oh sorry…I didn't mean to offend…" She said quickly. He looked surprised for a moment then smiled a little.

"If you want the truth madam, I wouldn't drink this stuff if there was any alternative. We um…have a barrel of ale in the kitchen." Andie raised her brows. He looked slightly embarrassed after he said this. This was presumably because he was offering a strong drink to what he thought was an upper-class lady.

"Um, of course, if Madame would prefer something more elegant there is also sherry…"

"Er…the ale, is it strong?" Andie asked.

"It could peel paint madam."

"I um, wouldn't be opposed." Andie said. He nodded with a smile and headed off.

XXX

Meanwhile, across the Palace of Justice' great room, Bastion was lounging in the lazy aristocratic manner learned by many upperclassmen, his perfectly formed legs draped across a chair and a half pillar. He smiled winningly at two young women who were hovering near him. They were trying to flirt coquettishly and appear alluring, but this was spoiled by the fact that they kept endeavoring to outdo the other.

"Are you going to talk to them?" Gage asked as he approached the Prince and cast a brief look at the girls.

"Oh probably. Is this all of them then?" He said while taking a drink of sherry.

"Yessir." Gage replied. "Some of them look quite…pretty I think."

"Yes, in masks and enough makeup to paint the side of a house." He said as he looked around the room wearily. The girls looked vaguely disappointed as his gaze left them.

"Don't forget milord, that one of these young ladies is going to be your wife."

Bastion, who hadn't been paying attention, sat up and nudged Gage as his gaze fell on a particular girl.

"Pardon me, but is that young woman drinking from a brandy glass? I say is that the sort of women Lord's raise these days?" Gage sighed and craned his neck to see and let out a brief chuckle.

"That's Miss Beauvais' daughter. Talk about enough makeup to paint the side of a house. Even outside I could see her face practically glowing."

"How strange." Bastion said. "Is she quite ugly?"

"No, actually she's rather pretty…when she's well. She did have a bad allergic reaction at the start of the week…I imagine she's trying to hide some of that still."

"Still…she has a fine figure." He downed the rest of his wine and stood. "Lets make a start of this then shall we?"

XXX

"Good evening." Andie felt a flash of panic as she turned towards the smooth voice. It belonged to a young man in very fine clothing. Andie had never been very fond of nobleman's dress. She thought that men looked a bit like stuffed turkeys in their doublets with their puffy sleeves and colorful tights, but the man in front of her probably could have worn anything with confidence. He was very handsome. He was looking at her through a very decorative mask and his dark curls fell across it in a way that gave the impression that he had been constructed by a very practiced sculptor.

"Good evening." Andie replied nervously.

"What is a fine lady such as yourself doing without company? I thought that fool Marcel was arranging you into little groups. Or do you find the company here as galling as I?" He asked, radiating charm.

"Er..." Andie took an instinctive step back. "I uh, just…er."

"You must be Isabelle Beauvais." He added as he reached out and gave her a smile capable of weakening the knees of even the most hardened maiden.

Mystified, Andie allowed him to take her hand and kiss it.

"I am Lord Bastion." She blinked.

"Oh…" She said weakly. "The pleasure is mine." She took her hand from his, considered trying to curtsy and then thought better of it.

He nodded towards the brandy.

"Do you always prefer hard drink milady?" He asked, laughter dancing in his eyes. Andie cursed inwardly.

"I thought it might be interesting to try sire." She said after a moment, while setting aside some of her bewilderment.

"Oh? And how is it?" He asked, with a hint of amusement.

"It's…well it's certainly not what I'm used to." She said, and this was at least the truth.

"Indeed, I shouldn't think a fine young woman would be capable of putting away such hard a drink." Andie smiled a little.

Of course the servant who had given her the brandy decided to return at this very moment, bearing a mug with fumes coming out of it.

"Here you are, miss." He said as he handed over the glass. Andie reached for it awkwardly, but Bastion intercepted. Andie was momentarily surprised by this breach of manners.

"Ah, milord. Would you care for a drink?" The servant said. Andie noted his nervousness.

"I would, actually…and what is…the lady having now then?" He asked, while bringing the cup up to his face, apparently trying to capture it's fragrance, in the case of this particular ale it was not so much fragrant as stagnant. Fay made a drink like this…usually it was a good idea not to get it too close to ones eyebrows. Andie wondered if it was possible to make a break for it.

Oblivious to this he took the slightest of drinks and it was something to say about his willpower that he didn't spit it out again. His face did turn slightly crimson under his mask with the effort of keeping his composer and he choked slightly.

"What in God's name is this drech?" He said.

"Um…ale milord." Ale was probably not exactly what it was. Andie could smell it from where she was standing.

"Pardon?" Bastion said. While setting the drink back down on the tray. "I was not aware that such a drink was being served this evening." With the servant Andie noted that Bastion's tone was different. It had already been slightly haughty, but now it contained traces of aversion.

"It is…what the servants and cooks are drinking, Milord." Bastion raised his head, his eyes filling with indignation.

"Nonsense. Why would you bring a guest of mine such swill?" He said, his tone changing slightly. An uneasy look passed across the servants face.

"I…I apologize…but she asked for it, lord." He said.

Bastion's steely gaze stayed on him for a moment before he turned it to Andie, who was watching the servant anxiously.

"_Did_ you ask for this madam?" He said. She looked at him, wide eyed.

"Yes. I did. Thank you." She said quickly as she took the drink from the man.

Bastion's gaze returned to the servant for a moment, then he burst out laughing. The man relaxed a little and offered a nervous smile.

"Very well then, I myself fancy some wine." The servant nodded, pleased to have the opportunity to get away. He cast Andie a grateful look as he left.

"You are eager to try new things milady?" He said with amusement.

"Er…yes." Andie said as the man's behavior turned pleasant again.

XXX

During the time that she was making this observation of him, he, in turn was forming his own opinions of her, but his had very little to do with her behavior, except to note that it was a bit odd.

Still, he was more absorbed in her appearance. She did have very thick makeup on, just as Gage had said, which coupled with the red paint on her lips was quite attractive in a strange way, but Bastion was aware that any woman could put on gobs of makeup and become at least passively attractive. Her hair was also finely curled, but this said nothing…after all one could probably curl a horse's hair. Her eyes however…

"You know, you have the most striking eyes." Bastion said, catching the girl off guard. "They are like silver. I imagine the rest of your visage is equally beautiful." He added. She frowned.

XXX

Andie wasn't used to people flirting with her…well, that wasn't entirely true. She remembered when her uncle had been alive he'd hosted parties which a lot of lords attended. After becoming seriously drunk they tended to get a bit grabby. On one occasion an earl who had been outrageously drunk had grabbed her while she had been walking past with a tray of drinks. He'd wound up wearing some very expensive brandy. She probably would have gotten into a lot more trouble for that if it hadn't been for the fact that his wife had also been at the party.

"It's…er…kind of you to say so." Andie said, while blushing slightly. This was not readily visible beneath the mask and heavy makeup.

"I don't suppose you'd…humor me by taking off your mask?" He said, while smiling a little.

"Um…don't you think that that would…spoil the fun?" She said, feeling slightly alarmed.

"I hardly think there are rules…" Bastion said with a slight laugh.

"Still…I think I shall keep it on." She said.

"Stubborn as well as adventurous. How about this, what if I order all of the ladies to remove their masks? I can you know, then will you take it off?" She didn't answer. She had backed up against one of the tables, while holding the ale in front of her defensively.

"Oh come now." He said, when she didn't answer. "Look I'll remove mine, to be fair." He said. He did so, revealing an exceptionally handsome face. Perfect eyes, perfect nose, perfect mouth and when he smiled again it was full of perfect teeth. "Now you…" He added.

"I'd rather not." She said, this time a little more firmly and with a bit of an edge in her voice. His smile faded a little and Andie noticed that he looked a bit puzzled…probably he wasn't used to someone telling him 'no.'

XXX

Meanwhile, at the Notre Dame, Quasimodo had been lighting the candles in the front hall. He did so as the night seeped in and the stained glass windows turned dark. There were far fewer people in the Notre Dame at this time of night and at this moment the only people near were a few monks.

Quasi paused briefly in his work to eye one of the nearby statues. Originally it had been faultless like much of the other statues that adorned the hall and the face of the cathedral, now it was cracking a bit in the face and was missing fingers.

When he was young he remembered asking Frollo about the statues. Frollo had said that the halls were filled with the images of prophets and angels as well as the images of demons. It was hard to tell the angels and the prophets apart. They were all so perfect and beautiful. Frollo had told him that the addition of the demons was to remind people about the cruelty and wickedness of humanity and that the sinners would burn in hell under the watch of their pitiless eyes. He grew up knowing that he bore a stronger resemblance to the monsters then he did the angels.

Quasi sighed and straightened one of the white flowers in the vase at the statues feet before he lit the last few candles in the hall. Then he made his way back up to the bell tower.

Viktor and Laverne were in a corner playing chess. Hugo seemed to be having an argument with a pigeon. Quasi dismissed this out of hand.

"Hey Quasi, done already?" Laverne asked as Viktor examined the chessboard with a strained expression.

"Yes…"

He eyed his paints and the model of the city and for a moment considered sitting down and spending the evening painting again. His eyes were drawn to the starry sky which glowed through the beams at the top of the belfry. He pulled his hood up.

"I think I'm going to go down to the bridge with Esmerelda." He said.

"Oh, good. You haven't been out and about in a while." Laverne said. Viktor made his move and beamed at her. She eyed the board briefly and took out one of his knights. "Check." The gargoyles face fell.

Quasimodo stepped into the night a few minutes later, moving shyly past a couple, who were sitting on the edge of a nearby fountain and speaking in the low and private language of young lovers. The night air was cool and crisp and his breath hung in the air, but the sky was clear and there was the smoky smell of fires.

He limped quietly to the bridge, holding a lantern out and avoiding the casual glances of others enjoying the evening.

As he got near he was aware of a faint glow and a snatch of strange music.

There was a small group of gypsies around a makeshift fire. A couple of them sat and drank stuff that would have made even the servants ale look tame by comparison, and they were wearing blindfolds or holding walking sticks. Some had sores that very well may have been painted on. A couple others fiddled with instruments and one or two children danced.

Quasimodo hovered at the edge awkwardly unwilling to go any further until he caught sight of Esmerelda and Pheobus. Esmerelda wasn't dancing for the time being and was instead leaning on the bridge while Pheobus hung near. Even in a state of relaxation his body had a certain swagger. Quasi approached them, careful to avoid bumping into anyone else.

He was five feet away when, much to his surprise, his arm was grabbed up from behind.

"Well, look who's decided to join us this evening." Came a merry voice in his ear. He frowned as Clopin halted his progress. Esmerelda looked up and smiled at him.

"Quasi." She said, sounding slightly surprised, but pleasantly so.

"It would be useful to have a real lame man for begging. If we put a blindfold on you and paint you with sores, perhaps we'll make a fortune." Clopin said happily as Quasimodo pulled his arm away. Esmerelda took Quasi's hand and pulled him towards her and Pheobus.

"Leave him alone, Clopin."

"Fine, fine." He said happily.

"I'm glad you came." She said kindly. He smiled at her, while trying to ignore Clopin, who had rested an elbow on his shoulder.

"Beats talking to pigeons, eh Quasi?" Pheobus added from beside her. "Not that we're doing very well tonight."

"It would be going better, if people knew how to PLAY THEIR INSTRUMENTS." Clopin said, shouting the last into Quasi's ear before headed towards a nearby gypsy who had been plucking at his instrument pathetically. He ripped it out of the man's hand. Esmerelda sighed and started to approach the two.

"So, I've wanted to ask since yesterday…" Pheobus said after Clopin chucked the instrument into the river. "That girl, Andie…?" He said with the hint of a smile. Quasi frowned.

"W-what about her?" He asked nervously.

"She seems like…a pleasant person." Pheobus added desperately, aware that with Quasimodo much of the conversation was usually up to him.

"She is…"

"So you…know her well do you?"

"…hardly at all." Quasi continued uncomfortably, unaware of where this conversation was going.

"Well, are you planning on seeing her again?" Quasi recalled the day before and his frown deepened.

"She did ask me if I might show her around." He said vaguely, his face reddening slightly.

"That's good…" Pheobus said brightly. "So you can get to know her better then." Quasi nodded a little reluctantly. In truth he had been worrying a bit about that. He wasn't sure if she had really intended for him to show her around or not, but if she did it occurred to him that it would be a fairly short tour. He might have lived in the city for twenty-one years, but he'd only been walking the streets for the last year or so. All he knew of the city was from up above.

"Yeah…good." He said as Esmerelda returned.

XXX

During this time Andie had been listening to Bastion talk and was making an observation not entirely different from Pheobus', in that a conversation with Bastion would be fairly one sided. Of course in this case, it was coming from the other direction. Mostly he seemed to complain. He was very well spoken and quite polite to her but there was an arrogant undertone to his words. What had Sarge said once? 'All men think their gods until their proven wrong'…something like that? She was brought out of her thoughts when he asked her a question.

"Pardon?"

"I asked if you wanted to dance?" He said while nodding towards the band.

"Um…no thank you." Once again she saw the brief puzzled expression on his fascia. "The ale…has actually made me a bit dizzy." She said awkwardly.

She was unaware that at some point Gage had wondered up. She caught sight of him as he halted behind Bastion and, in order to conceal herself a little more, took a sip of the strong ale.

"I'm not surprised. The lady must have the stomach lining of a horse." He said with a smile while casting a brief look at the captain, who was watching Andie and seemed to be thinking about something

"Perhaps you should take some time to meet the rest of the ladies, as well milord." Gage said after a moment, while wearing a strange distant expression. He was slightly red in the face, and had probably been drinking steadily since she'd seen him when her and her aunt first pulled up.

"Yes yes, I'll get around to it. I believe you've probably met Captain Vasser."

"Er yes." She said, while taking another drink.

"The captain has informed me that you reacted negatively to the cuisine served to you in the Hotel de Saint pol."

"Oh…um yes…"

"You seem much improved now though." Bastion added, while eyeing her inquisitively.

"Yes, I am, thank you." Gage, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her set his glass down and surprised both her and Bastion by taking a step forward and reaching for Andie's mask.

She recoiled, and managed to step back awkwardly, but her leg groaned with the effort of trying to move quickly in the lady's shoe's and she stumbled briefly, she managed not to fall, but the mask came loose, the string untying along with, embarrassingly enough, the wig which was tangled up in the string. A few dark strands fell in front of her face, which was streaked now with dark lines, where her makeup had come off. It had all happened so unexpectedly that for a moment Andie just stood stock still, staring at Gage, his fist full of the fake curls.

XXX

The look on Bastion's face was almost comical as he eyed both the hair and the mask with bewilderment. He met Andie's fiery gaze and for a moment was at a loss for words. She looked rather impressive in the candlelight despite her disheveled appearance and her eyes almost seemed to burn. Andie drew herself up and turned the gaze on the captain.

"What is the matter with you!?" She said angrily. She was aware of the hush in the room and turned to see a number of people looking their way. In the background the watery music continued to play and across the room most of the Lords went on talking unaware of the distraction.

Mostly the people looking at them wore expressions of bewilderment or humor save one. Adeline, who had noticed the commotion, was turning bright red and wore a thunderous expression. It was visible even from where Andie was standing.

Andie sighed and eyed Gage darkly, before her aunt swept across the room, her face a mask of rage. She looked at Andie furiously before turning to Bastion.

"I'm so sorry my lord." She said. "Please forgive me." Bastion turned to her and seemed to snap out of his brief revelry.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"This is Miss Beauvais…" Gage said after a moment, his eyes still fixed on Andie.

"It's a pleasure to meet you lord." Adeline said quickly. "I can explain the situation I'm sure…you see…my daughter has been ill and…"

"Er, yes I heard." Bastion said while casting a brief look at the wig and mask in Gage's hands.

"Although I'm a little confused at why she would need spare tresses for such a reason."

"I think perhaps you should be leaving." Gage said before Adeline could say anything else.

"But, I was merely trying to…"

"His lordship doesn't have time for…foolishness." He continued.

Adeline pursed her lips then glared at her niece before taking her arm.

"Very well. Good evening." She said dryly as she dragged Andie towards the door.

After they went, Bastion took the wig from Gage's hands and eyed it.

"Would you care to explain that to me?" He asked, still staring at Andie's retreating figure.

"She was deceiving you milord." He said. While behind him Theobald and Marcel approached, the latter looking both angry and bewildered.

"What's going on? Why did Ms. Beauvais take such offense?" Theobald asked, while looking at Gage. "We were having such a nice conversation. And she hollered and swept away."

"You said she was misshapen for an allergic reaction…" Bastion continued, ignoring him. "In the future I would like it if you did not make such a fool out of me." Gage frowned.

"I wasn't…I assure you it was not intended." He said. "But that girl was not…"

"So you did not intend to remove a maiden's hair? Some women, it might be said, can get a bit heated about that." Bastion interrupted angrily.

"Oh really, Gage that was most unwise." Theobald chirped in again.

"Er…yes, I…but you don't understand, that wasn't…"

"If you'll excuse me." Marcel interrupted while pushing Theobald aside and addressing Bastion. "Perhaps, for now, it would be wise for you to return to the party. I'll take care of this." Bastion hesitated for a moment as if deciding if this were some sort of order before subsiding.

"If that is your opinion." He said icily. "See to it then. Such striking eyes." He added more or less to himself as he once again gave the wig to Gage before heading back across the floor.

"You've been drinking again…." Gage turned towards Marcel. Theobald was peering around him anxiously.

"I was merely trying to…"

"Do you know why the duke sent me rather then just a letter for his son …it is because for the last year or so your judgment has been quite poor." He said while grabbing at Gage's brandy glass. "Mark me, if you continue to show such disappointing behavior his lordship will not fault me for relieving you of our duties. First thing tomorrow morning you will apologize to Ms. Beauvais and her daughter. Perhaps if I arrange for his majesty to meet Isabelle in a private setting they will forgive this utter breach of etiquette. Now be off, I assure you we have this quite under control." He cast Gage one last look of disapproval before heading back towards the guests.

Theobald frowned worriedly before bustling off after him. Beside him, the elderly gentleman who had managed to remain, until that moment asleep snorted awake and fixed Gage with a bleary eyed gaze.

"Another smidgeon of pork if you will Marie." He muttered before dozing off again. Gage sighed heavily before he grabbed the glass that Andie had discarded and downed the contents.

XXX

Might as well get the apology out of the way. So sorry this is late.

Bah, I've had a good part of this written for a while. I had to change it and add to it and I'm seeing a pattern. I'm hoping the fact that I actually get to do a little more in the next chapter with both Andie and Quasi things will speed things up. I had a hard time with this chapter and the last one. I still have some time left in my break before I go back to school and I want to update again before classes swallow me up.

I _was_ informed recently that I may be allowed to bring my laptop into work again (Its been banned for the last two years because kids were taking advantage of the privilege) so given the fact that I spend most of the winter shifts sitting and doing nothing anyways maybe I'll get a chance to do some writing there too.

Ne ways, hopefully this turned out all right. It's 2:00 in the morning and, don't ask me why but I've been standing at my dresser and writing for the last three hours in order to edit and add a bit to this so I'm exhausted.

Thanks for all of your reviews on the last chapter I really appreciate it. ^^


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten:

_They will see us waving from such Great Heights_

_ Come down now, they'll say_

_ But everything looks perfect from far away_

_ Come down now, but we'll stay._

"Such Great Heights" The Postal Service

The next morning Andie stumbled out of bed miserably. Her leg was killing her. There was the curious feeling that at some point in the last twelve hours her knee had lost contact with the bottom of her foot and everything in between had decided to take a life of it's own. She grabbed her cane and a tie for her hair and found, after a few moments that it had been cut far too short to braid. She gave up and just tied it back before dressing hurriedly and heading down to the kitchen.

Fay was there. She had her sleeves pulled up and seemed to be in the process of baking bread. A loaf was sitting on the counter in front of her and she was holding an evil looking bread knife that she'd brought from her own kitchen back home. It was much older then most of the knives in the big fancy kitchen and had therefore been worn to a point of almost pure sharpness.

Fay looked up and smiled faintly at her.

"You look awful." She said.

"Thanks." Andie responded as she limped over to the woman. "I feel worse."

"Give me a hand with the bread, I think the other loaf's ready." Andie nodded and grabbed the peel (1) sitting near the oven.

"I heard what happened. Madame and Miss Isabelle seem pretty upset." Fay said casually. She glanced at Andie's miserable expression as she scooped out the loaf of bread.

"I'm sure she'll get over it. There was no guarantee that his lordship would have chosen her for his wife anyways." The woman added. Andie didn't say anything as she grabbed another bread knife and began cutting the loaf into slices.

"I guess this means were going home soon."

"I can't imagine we'll be allowed to stay past today." Andie muttered.

At this, Charlot pushed open the door, looking slightly troubled.

"Madame Beauvais told me to fetch Alain to light the fire for her in the drawing room. I can't find him. She told me I wasn't to try after what happened to her tapestry the last time."

"All right." Andie said wearily as she finished the last slice. "He's probably in the dumbwaiter again. I'll get him."

XXX

He was in fact in the dumbwaiter. Andie pulled the ancient door open. There was a smell of dust and rooms that hadn't been aired out in a while. The dumbwaiter itself was larger then any she'd seen before. The hospice had had one, but it had been tiny and in disrepair, so that any load heavier then ten or fifteen pounds tended to make the poor wood crack. This thing looked as if it were big enough to fit more then one person inside.

As it was, Alain was crouched in the shadows. He looked at her when the door opened.

"Adeline's looking for you." She said.

"Is she very angry?" He asked hesitantly.

"I imagine her temper is short this morning." He crossed his arms across his knees. She sighed and sat on the edge of the lift.

"You probably shouldn't be in here, Alain. These things aren't generally built to support people...."

"I like it." He said. "It's quiet and no one uses it."

"Yeah, well…it certainly looks like it hasn't been used in a while." She said as she looked up at the slightly rusted pulley attached to a peeling rope. "But if one of the guards or servants find you in here you're going to get into trouble."

"Andie, do you like it here?" He asked, apparently ignoring what she had just said.

"Huh? Why?"

"You've been spending a lot of time in the city…you don't do that at home."

"Well…I've never been in a city before. It's different. Don't you wonder about places you've never been?" He seemed to consider this for a moment then shook his head.

"Not really. There are too many people here, I don't like it."

"Well…a lot of people is a major qualification for a city, yes. Why are you asking this?"

"Do you want to stay here?" He asked quickly. Andie raised her eyebrow.

"What?"

"Would you rather live here then home with us?"

"I've…not thought about it…I mean…that hasn't crossed my mind…" She said a little bewilderedly. "What would I do here? Where is this coming from?"

"Nothing, nowhere." He said, looking a little relieved. "Faye was saying something the other day…that's all."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Alain. I don't think were going to be here for much longer." Andie said, still a little puzzled.

"I'd better go light Madame's fire." He said with a sigh as he unfolded his skinny legs and left the lift. She straightened and shut the big wooden door and followed him out.

XXX

Shortly after Alain stepped into the drawing room cautiously and began the task of lighting the fire and consequently burning his fingers, Gage accompanied Marcel into the room as well. On a chair Adeline was sitting and doing tapestry. Her lips were tight as she attempted to repair a bit of work she'd done wrong in the last hour.

Gage felt as if the top of his head were about to fall off. Marcel seemed unsympathetic to this. Both men approached the woman and Marcel cleared his throat respectively.

Adeline looked up.

"Madame, it is good to see you again." Marcel said with a bow. Adeline pursed her lips.

"And you." She said coolly.

"We are terribly sorry for interrupting you. But Captain Vasser wishes to apologize for yesterday evening." Adeline's eyes slipped from one gentleman to the other. Marcel turned a heated glance on the captain. Gage cleared his throat.

"I am…sorry madam." He said wearily. "It was rude of me to assault…your _daughter_." The last he said venomously. "I can't think what came over me."

"Well…that's…quite all right." Adeline said, a bit confusedly, but consciously so.

"We would like to apologize further by inviting your daughter to a private meeting with Lord Bastion, so that he may also apologize." Marcel added. A light shone in Adeline's eye as this sank it.

"Oh, well that would be a great honor." She said triumphantly. "I am certain she will be most pleased to hear it and don't for a moment think that I bear you a grudge sir. You can hardly be held accountable for the actions of a drunken man." She said, addressing Marcel specifically. Gage frowned deeply at this.

"I am glad you are so forgiving madam. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have much to do. Be sure to tell your daughter that she is wanted in the Prince's quarters in the evening for dinner."

"Oh I will, thank you." Marcel started out of the room, but Gage lingered for a moment.

"His majesty is very much looking forward to seeing your daughter _again." _He said, a hint of nastiness in his expression. "Well, and without the false hair…I trust you'll have a fine day." He savored her expression as it slowly changed as _this _sunk in and then bowed and left the room.

XXX

Andie returned to the kitchen and sat down, leaning her cane against the counter as she did. Fay passed her a couple slices of bread silently. Andie picked up a knife.

"Lenten slices?" Andie asked after a moment.

"Isabelle requested it and when I say requested I mean screamed. I told her the season's off for grapes and I've very little almond milk but you know your cousin when she's in a fowl mood…I'll have to compromise."

"I'll get you some almond milk." Andie said as she cut the bread into small pieces. "I want to see the city again before we leave anyways…I highly doubt I'll get a chance to come here again."

"Doesn't your leg hurt?"

"Yes but it always does." Andie said with a shrug. "Plus, I would prefer to avoid madame for as long as possible."

"All right…" She said as Andie stood again after finishing the slices and grabbed he cane. "Take your time…I'm not in any hurry." She said bitterly as she took a bottle of some indefinably liquid out of her apron pocket and opened it.

Andie headed out, going in the only direction she was accustomed to thus far, which was the Notre Dame.

XXX

Quasimodo had been scrubbing the statue of Maria with lye soap. The smell of it had begun to sting his eyes but the day was bright and the sun was shining through the stained glass windows, which set the Notre Dame ablaze with soft multicolor light. The droning of a sermon filtered through the halls as he worked. He was positioned so that anyone entering the church from the front door would not be able to see him.

Carefully Quasi rung his rug out over the wooden bucket he was carrying and began to clean the feet of the statue.

XXX

Bastion stepped up to the Notre Dame with an air of hauteur. He was not as finely dressed as the night before, but the clothing he wore was still very obviously expensive. Following behind him was a soldier who went by the name Bruno and Theobald. In the time that he had been in Paris he had only been to the Notre Dame on half a dozen occasions. It was suggested strongly that he should try to visit the cathedral for the occasional sermon or at least to pray, considering it was the building he was going to be married in and even Lords should be humble before God. In a carriage nearby three soldiers sat in wait for the Prince to finish.

"I suppose Marcel has taken care to present my invitation to Ms. Beauvais." Bastion said as he climbed the stairs. A peasant woman pulled her daughter back quickly when the girl nearly stepped in his path. He paid them no notice.

"He said that he would speak with her this morning, Lord." Theobald replied.

"Good. I will be dining with her daughter this evening then?"

"That is what he said sire. She must agree of course."

"Why wouldn't she." He said. It was not a question.

The impressiveness of the cathedral was lost on Bastion. He glanced at the arched ceilings and rows of candlesticks briefly before heading down the hall.

"The Note Dame is so remarkable." Theobald said admiringly.

"I think the Cathedral back home is equally impressive." Bastion replied. He halted at a statue. "I must admit though, the Notre Dame does have its share of impressive sculptures." He glanced into the face of the saint approvingly.

"This is how men should look." He added. "Perfect in every detail. And observe Maria." He said while gesturing to the massive statue of Maria. "In all of her glory. I certainly have never met a women as perfect looking as her." As he said this he considered briefly Isabelle Beauvais' striking eyes and handsome face. "Although perhaps there are some that have come close."

They drew nearer to the statue, which was, by ill fortune the same statue Quasimodo had been cleaning. He had not heard their murmured conversation; otherwise he might have kept hidden. Instead he picked up his bucket and stepped down from the base where the statue was standing. He rounded the corner and by a bad stroke of luck nearly ran into Bastion. If he had, the man probably would have been knocked off his feet given Quasimodo's size, but as it was the hunchback managed to come to a halt. The bucket of lye soap, however, rocked back and a good amount of the foul smelling water sloshed over the lip and doused Bastion's leg and foot.

Quasimodo recoiled as the man turned on him, rage inflicted in his face. He would have been outraged in any case, but the sight of the deformed man incurred upon him a revulsion that turned his mind like an enraged bull.

"You stupid wretch!" Bastion spat, his eyes flashing. He gestured to his foot. "These boots are worth more then your pathetic life." He added as he delivered a kick with the boot still dripping with lye. Around the church a couple of people who had been nearer to them turned at the sound of Bastion's voice.

Quasimodo stumbled back into a pillar, his face an image of terror. Most of the contents of the bucket spilled on the floor. Bastion gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

Technically, if it had occurred to him to do so, Quasimodo could have crushed the prince without even trying. Physically Bastion had little power over him, but a lifetime under Frollo's watch had made the hunchback weak inside his head and therefore he cowered like a child in front of a man who he could have snapped in two if he wanted to.

It might have perhaps gone rather badly if the archdeacon had not wondered over because of the commotion. His robes flapped around him as he came to a halt in front of Bastion and laid a kindly hand on Quasimodo's shoulder.

"What is the trouble here?" He asked.

"That wretched creature ran into me. Look at my tights!" Bastion said while pointing angrily.

"An accident, I'm sure." He glanced sideways at the trembling man.

"An accident of birth certainly! That oaf shouldn't be allowed to walk freely in God's house!"

"All men are welcome here." The archdeacon said, his voice now carrying a note of warning. It said that however great Bastion thought he was, God was greater.

"Men certainly." Bastion replied. "But I don't want to look upon him again." He said before he motioned for Bruno and Theobald to follow him.

"An insult." Bastion said, his voice fading as they headed away.

"I would have urged the wench who gave birth to that to drown him the minute he saw light." Bruno added casually. "I can't imagine what would have caused her to do otherwise."

"Perhaps it would be wise if you refrained from working during sermons, at least while those men are still in the city." The archdeacon said carefully, after Bastion and his men were gone. Quasimodo nodded miserably as the archdeacon removed his hand from his shoulder. "You look ill, my son, perhaps some fresh air would do you good." The priest added with a hint of concern.

XXX

Quasimodo moved to one of the portals on the side of the Cathedral and descended the steps gloomily. He shielded his eyes from the sun briefly before dumping what was left of the bucket onto the ground. Then he sat on the bottom step and buried his head in his hands with a sigh as the breeze blew a few strands of his red hair over his fingers.

Andie noticed him when she halted to adjust the grip on her cane. She hesitated for a moment before moving towards him slowly.

"Are you all right?" She asked, when the hunchback did not appear to notice her. He started and then looked up at her with a mixture of embarrassment and guilt.

"Y-yes, fine…just…resting." He stammered. Andie put her head to one side. Whenever she saw him she found herself becoming almost sympathetically awkward. She sat down next to him and laid her cane down. He drew away from her unthinkingly.

"What are you doing?" She asked while nodding at the bucket.

"I was c-cleaning the statues." He said.

"Ah. That must be a lot of work." He nodded. "I imagine there are a lot of them." There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence. Andie stared at her feet. Now was the time when Aimee's company would have come in handy. Her chattering helped to ease the discomfort, whether it was senseless or not. Andie sighed.

"I asked you to show me around the other day didn't I?" She asked finally, when the silence started to get to her. Quasimodo frowned.

"Yes, well er…I-I'm not sure I would be very good at it. I haven't been very far from the Notre Dame, t-to be honest." She eyed him briefly.

"It's all right. My leg is killing me anyways…I wouldn't have made it very far." She said with a sigh. "It would have been nice to see more of the city before I have to go though." The last bit seemed to be said more to herself. Quasi eyed his large hands, unhappily. After a moment he looked up as an idea came to him.

"Follow me." Quasi said, surprising Andie as he stood up and opened the portal door. She stared at him in bewilderment.

"What are you…?"

"I'll show you the city." He added, a little self-consciously. She sat uncertainly for a moment before grabbing her cane and following him.

XXX

They went up the multiple stairways to the bell tower, taking a different path then the first time, away from the front door. By the time they reached the ladder up to where Quasimodo lived Andie's leg was in agony.

"Just a little further." He said as he bounded up the ladder effortlessly. Andie eyed her cane briefly before following him. He helped her up the rest way, taking her cane from her to make the climb easier. "Over here." He said, motioning to another set of stairs. Andie groaned inwardly, but said nothing. The stairs led to the very highest part of the cathedral. When they reached it Andie forgot all about the pain in her leg.

Quasi limped to the parapet and motioned for her to follow. She did so slowly as she stared at the expansive view, her mouth slightly open.

"Wow." She said. "This is…amazing." She leaned against the Balustrade and looked down as a flock of birds flew beneath them. She'd never been this high up in her entire life.

Most of what could be seen from the tower was the rooftops, tons and tons of rooftops. But she also saw the start of streets and the river, which was glowing in the sunlight, and a network of bridges. There were towers, buildings with great spires and universities. She could even see the top of the Hotel De Saint Pol. It's massiveness was more obvious at this height.

"I-its even better at sunset…" He said, his voice breaking through her awe.

"I imagine." She responded breathlessly.

Quasimodo jumped up onto the rail in an absent-minded way, as he did the sunlight hit his hair and turned it a brilliant reddish orange.

"Do you know any of these places?" She asked as she nodded towards the city.

"Not well." He responded. "I know that's the Palace of Justice." He said as he pointed towards a familiar dark shape on the horizon. "An over there are the galleries and the town has the market and palaces and I think all of the schools are over there." He said as he pointed at various places.

"But you've not been to any of them?" She asked. He settled on the balustrade in what Andie considered to be a precarious manner. The hunchback didn't seem to be bothered by the massive height though. He was, however, looking rather downcast.

"I've been to the market." He said eventually, as if admitting to some shameful truth.

"I thought you've lived here your whole life." She said, moving a little closer. He didn't seem to notice and therefore didn't recoil in his usual manner.

"W-well I have…I mean, I've lived _here _my whole life." He said with some awkwardness.

"What?" She said. Then the words sank in. "In the church?" He nodded.

"I-I didn't leave this place until recently."

Andie stared at him as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea. It was quite a big one and kept slipping away.

"You stayed here…I mean…you never left?" He nodded again, while staring at the river.

She looked away from him and watched the sun go behind a cloud. When it did it felt colder. It had already been much windier up here then it had been on the ground but she hadn't noticed it up to that point because the sun had been bright and the view lovely. She wasn't really looking at it now because she was thinking.

When Andie had been younger and still lived with her father there had been instances when he'd locked her in her room for several nights at a time. He sometimes left her food and other times he forgot and she didn't ever know when he was going to let her out. At some point, towards the end of her time with her father she'd figured out how to get the window open and was able to sneak out for fresh air when she thought he was asleep or passed out. The longest she'd ever spent in one place without leaving was two weeks.

"How could you stand that?" She asked after a moment looking at the view, with eyes staring into the past. He shrugged.

"M-my master always told me the church was the only p-place I'd be welcome. I thought it w-was for the best." She noticed that his stammering seemed to have worsened. A moment before when he had been talking about the town it had been almost non-existent. She looked at him again, her own memories leaking away.

"Your master?" She asked. _He really is like a dog that's been kicked too many times. _She shivered briefly. He misread the tremor and jumped down from the rail.

"It's cold up here." He said. "We should go back down." Or perhaps he hadn't misread it, she thought as she followed him back down to the bell tower. Perhaps he was just avoiding the subject.

XXX

Well my update was a little quicker this time, but still not as soon as I would have liked. More Quasi and Andie in the next chapter. I was actually going to write more here but I thought it was a good idea to stop so I could update within a semi reasonable time.

I'm actually super ridiculously excited because yesterday I spent an outrageously unwise amount of money on The Art Of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, which I found at Half Priced books in the super rare case. (It's massive and gorgeous and comes with a still from the movie) There are some really lovely concept drawings in it and I have to admit it's helped rekindle some inspiration. With a movie this old it's hard to get a hold of really nice merchandise, especially the sort that appeals to someone my age. ^^

Anyways I hope this chapter turned out all right and thanks very much for the reviews on the last one. Happy belated Valentines Day.

(1) Bread paddle for scooping out bread


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_This is the story of your red right ankle  
And how it came to meet your leg_

_And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled  
And how the skin was softly shed_

And how it whispered "Oh adhere to me  
For we are bound by symmetry  
And whatever differences our lives have been  
We together make a limb."  
This is the story of your red right ankle.

"Red Right Ankle" –The Decemberists

It was the second time that Andie had been in the bell tower, and it was still an impressive sight. It wasn't only because of the bells, which were, admittedly a thing to see, hanging like massive titans from the ceiling with their ropes dangling beneath them, but also because of the clutter in the belfry, which covered every surface and every wall.

There were several levels to the tower and ladders or narrow stairways connected each. Shelves were all over the place, balanced between slabs of stone or hanging from beams by peeling rope. There were hundreds of pots and vases, all cracked or broken or half filled with paint or some kind of dead or wilting flowers. These pots littered the floor as well, accompanied by various broken pieces and little tools that Andie did not recognize.

The pots were just the beginning though. The shelves were also covered in all sorts of small objects like keys and glass and cloth and tiny bells. He had glass and tiny objects hanging from the ceiling suspended by string, similar to the mobiles over his model of the city and bits of cloth which hung limply or were being utilized as some form of curtain or divider to the massive room.

Probably the most interesting thing, though, were the statues and busts. These were everywhere. None of them were in perfect shape and many of them were half destroyed. They were being used to support the shelves, or were leaned against every wall and pushed in every corner. There were even pieces sitting on stairways or hanging from ropes. Some of them even seemed to have once been a part of the outside of the building. Others were simply broken statues, reduced to depraved looking things crumbling in the dark. There were men, gargoyles and grotesques (1) as well as single parts such as feet or hands or heads. The grotesques were the most dismal looking, with their carved expressions of desperation and longing, but even the saints, carved to look beautiful and peaceful seemed sorrowful in this setting.

Andie walked up to a figure of a saint who had been built to look perfect and beautiful but had at some point lost a hand and a good portion of the left side of his face.

Quasimodo had followed her back down into the bellower and had chosen to hover nearby quietly.

"Where did all of this stuff come from?" Andie asked as she stared up into the saint's corroded face.

"I-I found some of it." He said as he inched around the large table with the city on it and eyed her anxiously. "S-some of it was pushed here from the church."

"These statues? Were they part of the building?" He nodded.

"They don't throw things out…it just gets stored up here." He said as he touched something that looked as if it might've once been made to place on the face of the cathedral.

"You don't mind the clutter?" She asked as she turned to look at him. She noticed that when she did, he seemed to shrink into himself, as if distorting his posture further would somehow make him invisible. At her question he shrugged in his awkward way.

"I like the company." He said oblivious to her thoughts. Andie smiled gently at him before moving on, her cane making a hollow sounds on the wood. She paused at a half broken statue of a woman. Apart from being separated from her legs, she was missing one finger on a beckoning hand and her face was mildly corroded around the nose. She stared gloomily at the statue for a while.

"It's kind of depressing." She said quietly as she looked at the stone eyes and carefully picked a cobweb off of the statues chiseled hair. Quasimodo continued to watch her, but didn't say anything.

She sighed and turned, once again towards the table in the center of the bell tower. With the way the sun was shining the suspended glass was acting almost like the rose windows in the cathedral, casting lovely shapes, which danced over the carved houses and figures. The effect made that one place seem almost cheerful in the midst of the dark shapes that surrounded it. She hadn't noticed before that this table also seemed to be supported by the underside of statues and half formed pillars.

It was further along then it had been a few days prior in that some of the buildings, which had been bare before were now painted. Andie touched one of the glass mobiles sending a dozen multicolored shapes skittering across the surface. She smiled as she admired this. Her smile faded a little when her eyes crossed over a figure, which had not been there the last time she visited. She felt a brief moment of surprise, before this melted into embarrassment. Andie felt her face grow warm as she eyed the tiny carving of herself. Quasimodo's uneasy gaze followed her hand as she removed it from the table.

"I…er…I-I-I had some extra wood and paint…" He stammered wretchedly while raking a nervous hand through his hair. She met his awkward gaze with one of her own.

"Er, how long did it take you?"

"A couple days." He said as he rubbed at his knuckles self-consciously. Andie eyed it for a moment longer before setting it down carefully.

"It's lovely." She said after a moment. It was. There were a lot of tiny details and it was beautifully painted, but this just served to embarrass her further, although by this point he had gotten to a shade of deeper red then hers. "Your very talented." She added self consciously.

"T-thank you."

"Er, what's this?" She asked, while indicating a shrouded rectangular object sitting on the bottom of one of the shelves, in an effort to change the subject both for her own sake and his.

"It's a chess board." He said, slightly relieved. "I-It's not very good." He added as she pulled the cover off. It was very obviously hand carved. Beside it was a sack of crudely made pieces. It was unlike the board he had made for the dyer. Because this board belonged to him it contained much less detail.

She pulled a couple of the pieces out and looked at him.

"I think they're good. Do you play a lot?"

"No." He said. "I mean there aren't a lot of people to play." He said shyly while indicating the room of statues.

Andie turned the pieces over in her hands before smiling gently at him.

"Would you like to?" She asked. This seemed to surprise him.

"I-I have a lot of chores to do." He said. He paused briefly. Through the rafters he could hear the quiet music of the church and droning voice of the priest. "I have a little time." He added shyly. It was probably best to avoid the rest of the church until he could be certain that specific people were no longer present. Besides, she was smiling at him and her eyes were filled with kindness.

Quasimodo moved some of the houses and figures aside with care and they moved the board to the table.

"You'll have to remind me of a few things. I haven't played a game of chess in years." She said. He nodded as he began setting up the pieces.

XXX

Faye was in the middle of mixing up a drink that probably could have cleared a person's sinuses, troubles (to a degree, in any case. In some ways it might've caused more) and peeled paint all at once. She'd set the bread aside and resigned to wait for Andie. She wasn't in too big of a hurry. Covered in all of the ingredients the recipe called for, a person could hardly tell if the bread was freshly baked or not and Isabelle had been getting on her nerves lately.

She had gotten to the point when fumes were coming out of the bottle when Charlotte entered looking slightly frazzled, although admittedly, she always looked a little frazzled. It was almost built into her nature.

"Oh, I thought Andie was in here." She said after briefly looking around.

"Nope, she went out to fetch some milk." A slightly distressed expression crossed the girls face.

"Do you know when she'll be back? Madame Beauvais is looking for her."

"No. She may take some time." Faye looked up. "What does she need?"

"I'm not sure. She just told me to fetch Andie. She seemed pretty upset." Faye sighed.

"Well just tell her that I sent her out for the milk and that she'll be back soon." Charlotte nodded nervously before exiting the room, tripping over own feet as she went.

Fay sighed. She found herself wondering more often then not if Alain and Charlotte were capable of having any kind of a life outside of this one.

Certainly, if it hadn't have been for her and Andie they'd be worse off now. Andie especially seemed to take their well being personally. Faye sometimes wondered on this.

When Andie had moved in with her aunt at thirteen Faye had taken to her because she had been a quiet and responsible girl, which was rare at that age. Generally they were a bit silly and useless at thirteen but Andie had been hardworking and hadn't minded helping out with things, which other young girls might shy away from without thought. Then when Alain and Charlotte's parents had turned their children over as Madame's servants Andie had kept her eye on them and gave them the patience that even Faye sometimes found hard to proffer when Charlotte was in her kitchen breaking her pots or she had to spend an hour searching for Alain when he got into one of his strange moods.

She admired the girl for this but sometimes worried that because of them Andie herself was missing out on something. Her leg might be bad and there were certainly other blemishes and marks her damnable father had left, notwithstanding the wretched scars on her back, but despite this she had grown up strong and sensible and Faye had no doubts that she was capable of something other then working for her aunt her whole life.

This was why even though she was a little concerned about letting Andie wonder around Paris by herself, she was also glad that the girl was showing some interest in something that was for her own sake and not for someone else's.

Fay sighed and took a drink from the foul smelling container before sitting and waiting for something or someone to interrupt her moment of peace.

XXX

Charlotte was not enjoying the same comfort.

"Well what is she fetching milk for?" Adeline said after the girl relayed to her the message. They were standing in Isabelle's room. Isabelle was sitting up in bed with a tapestry. At this point it was difficult to tell what in her face was caused by the fish and what was caused by the constant bout of tears she'd shed since the allergic reaction.

"For Faye." Charlotte said meekly. "She should be back soon." She added and dearly hoped that this would be the case.

"I need her now. Lord Bastion wants to dine with Isabelle tonight and he thinks _she's_ Isabelle. I can't send my daughter like this, she's not well enough yet and I certainly can't turn him down. How would that look?" She sighed angrily. "Just…go wait for her to return. When she does, send her up here." She said while motioning for Charlotte to leave her sight.

"I don't see why I can't go." Isabelle said after Charlotte left. "You should just ask them to postpone it."

"Darling, you don't simply ask a prince to postpone a dinner engagement. Besides I've thought long and hard about this and I think we may still have a chance to marry him and you. As long as Andie doesn't make too terrible of a mess, we might be permitted to stay until you recover."

"But if he sees her, he'll know the difference between us…I mean…who could ever mistake us."

"Yes I know, but we'll worry about that when you're well. I've great confidence in your beauty. When I was your age I stole your father away from girls with greater status then we have. When he sees you, I'm certain you will persuade him. I mean I've seen the other girls and they simply do not compare." She paused a moment with a sigh and then added, with just a hint of worry, "Hopefully he wont be too upset by this bit of deception…but we can't risk being sent home now. Just last night I thought that girl had ruined everything."

"I still don't like that he's going to be spending time with _her_. How could anyone find her charming? She's so coarse and plain." Isabelle said while crossing her arms.

"Don't fret. I'll see to it that she understands how important this is to us. She'll have just as much to lose from it, I'll make sure of that."

XXX

Andie and Quasimodo were sitting in quiet as the sun and the light from the pieces of stained glass bathed the table in light and color. The glass made a nice tinkling sound whenever a breeze wafted through the bell tower. It was quite pleasant actually.

Quasimodo had, at some point removed his cloak. It was the first time she'd seen him without it. It made the awkward contours of his shoulders a lot more obvious. When he wasn't looking at her, she snuck a few discreet glances. She wasn't sure if the discomfort she was feeling from him was due to his obvious shyness or if there was just something in the way he was built that suggested discomposure.

There were a few occasions in which she tried to make conversation. On one of these instances she'd caught sight of a battered volume on a shelf behind him and had nodded towards it.

"What's that?" She said as he examined the board. "The book." She added as he looked in the direction she had motioned towards.

"It's a Bible." He said while turning back to her.

"Ah." Andie looked up at him, suddenly interested. "So…you can read?"

"A little." He said. "It's in Latin. My master taught me some."

"I've not met many people who can read. I only know how because a friend taught me." She added. "Mostly it's only wealthy men who are allowed to learn."

"Why?" He asked. He wasn't particularly familiar with who was allowed to read and who wasn't. Frollo hadn't taught him much apart from some Latin and the tiniest bit of Greek and only out of religious books, mostly out of the chapters when the sinful got what they justly deserved. Quasimodo might've grown up thinking that all that religion was, was nothing but punishment if he hadn't also regularly heard the sermons given by the archdeacon through the rafters. Andie shrugged at his question.

"I suppose people find it a useless thing for women and commonfolk to know." There was the slightest bit of distaste in her voice and for a moment her fascia lost it's softness.

"Y-you l-like to read?" He asked. She looked up at him and smiled. He resisted the urge to look away or recoil from her gaze.

"Yes. I don't read many religious books though." She added. "I like some of the books on philosophy and on architecture. My friend let me have one of his. It has some drawings of the Notre Dame in it." She continued. "I didn't realize how impressive this church was though."

"I-I've only ever seen the books my master showed me." He said softly.

"Well, if I'm still around Paris after today, I'll let you see my book." Andie said. "Some of the text can be kind of dull and I'm sure the drawings don't do the subject justice, but I always liked looking at drawings of places I've never seen."

"I should like that very much." He said shyly, while blushing a little.

When they were finished with the game, he collected the pieces, returned them to the sack and carefully placed the board back on the shelf. Quasimodo had won. Andie had been somewhat suprised at how well he played considering that he apparently hadn't played against another person before.

"I should get going. I have to go to the market." She said as she gathered her cane and tied her cloak up. He nodded and grabbed his own cloak and showed her back down to the base of the church.

She turned when they got to the portal and smiled at him.

"Thank you for showing me the city." She said.

"Your welcome." He said as she turned and headed down the stairs. He raised his hand and then leaned against the door with a sigh.

XXX

It didn't take Andie long to find the almond milk and she returned to the Hotel de Saint Pol in a much brighter mood then she had been in when she left it. This wasn't to last long.

Faye nodded to her when she entered the kitchen.

"Your aunt's looking for you." Andie frowned as she handed the woman the milk.

"What does she want?" Faye shrugged.

"I'm not sure but you'd better hurry.

Andie set her cloak aside as she made her way to her cousin's room. Sure enough, Adeline was waiting for her. When she entered the room the older woman gave her a stern look.

"Where have you been? I shouldn't think that going to the market would take so long."

"I got a bit lost." Andie lied.

"Never mind that, you've nearly ruined everything." Adeline said sharply. "It's nearing twilight and you've wasted the day. Bastion has called on Isabelle to dine with him. You must take her place." Andie's thoughts came to an abrupt halt before rearing in a different direction. Whatever she had been expecting from her aunt it wasn't a dinner invitation.

"What? No! I don't want to dine with him. Besides he's seen my face, he can't think I'm Isabelle now."

"He doesn't know the difference yet and you shall dine with him if you know what's benefits you. We have been given a second opportunity at marrying Isabelle to a great royal family and you are not going to be the one to spoil that."

"But…even if he does let us stay and Isabelle gets better he's not going to believe that we're the same person."

"I should hope not." Isabelle said glumly.

"We will worry about that later." Adeline said. "For now, I am only concerned that we be allowed to stay long enough so that he should _meet_ Isabelle."

"I don't know how to dine with royalty." Andie said.

"Just keep your mouth shut and eat as little as possible." Adeline said. "Don't touch anything that your not supposed to and sip at your wine. Before you go we must make you look presentable." Andie shook her head.

"I can barely walk after last night and it took me forever to scrub that makeup off." Adeline stood and approached her niece.

"I want you to listen to me carefully, Andie. If for some reason Isabelle is denied her chance to marry Lord Bastion because of you, I will personally make sure of it that when we return home your work load will increase by four times." Andie continued to meet her aunt's gaze. "In fact, if you do ruin this chance for my daughter, I will make sure that your doing all the work, on account of their being _no one else to do it._" Adeline watched with satisfaction as this sank in.

"All right." Andie conceded bitterly.

"Good, that's what I thought. Now, go an scrub yourself, then return to me and we shall see what to do about your appearance."

XXX

Quasimodo had finished his chores in a sort of dreamy silence. He scrubbed the statues and lit the candles and swept the floors before returning to his tower and ringing the bells at sunset. When he was finished he moved wearily to his table and put all of the tiny carved things back in their place. He paused when he picked up Andie's figure and sat down, his knees knocking in their awkward way.

Quasimodo held the piece delicately in his fingers and sighed heavily.

"Come on, Quasi, why don't you just admit you like her." He turned slightly as Laverne laid a stone hand on his shoulder. He set the piece down with a frown as Victor and Hugo joined them.

"I-I-I couldn't…it doesn't matter…even if I did. What could I offer her?" He said as he rested his massive head in his arms, his eyes still fixed on the figure.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Quasi." Viktor said, while attempting some joviality. "You have many splendid qualities."

"Yeah, any dame worth having could see that there's something…er special about you." Hugo added.

"Special? Yeah…" Quasi said as he chuckled bitterly. He stood and headed towards balustrade. The gargoyles followed.

The hunchback leaned on the rail, his eyes fixed on the setting sun. After a moment Victor interrupted the silence.

"I know, why don't you get her something?"

"Hey yeah, women love gifts, take it from me." Hugo added.

"Yeah, because you would know." Laverne said sarcastically.

"I don't think so." Quasi said bitterly as he watched the street below.

"Perhaps flowers. Flowers are always a satisfying endowment." Viktor added as he picked a drying rose from one of the broken pots and flourished it. Quasimodo eyed the flower doubtfully.

"Er…obviously a living one." Viktor said after a moment when it was obvious that the hunchback was less then enthusiastic about his idea.

"Settle down Viktor." Laverne said as she moved to Quasi's side. "Why don't you make her something?"

"Oh yes, she seemed quite impressed with the things you've made."

"I-I don't know." Quasi replied after a moment, a little wearily. "She's probably going to leave soon." He stood and returned once again to his table.

"Well then, what's the harm in at least trying?" Laverne asked. She hopped across the floor, flicking the little glass mobile slightly when she came to a stop. In the fading light it let off only the faintest of shapes. Quasimodo eyed it briefly before removing another faded flower from one of his crumbling vases and staring at it.

Laverne smiled and took the tiny figure of Quasimodo from atop the model of the Notre Dame and set it carefully in front of him, next to the one of Andie. He eyed it briefly with a mixture of sadness and longing.

"I can't believe I'm even thinking about this." He said while shaking his head.

XXX

Well, I figured this would be up sooner. I've been on Spring Break all week but through a series of unforeseen (some of them anyways) events I've managed to be tied up every day so far due to birthdays, family, some unexpected babysitting, work and what might've been the last living hornet in Ohio at this time of year, which kindly enough went out of it's way to let itself in my place of work to sting me so I could spend an hour and a half in a doctors office waiting for medicine because I'm allergic.

I'll try to get right on the next chapter but I'll be back in college on Monday for about another month and a half. Today's probably my last day off until I get out in May. I can still write, but I'll likely be really busy with school stuff as well.

Anyways, thank you all very much for the reviews and your patience, I really appreciate it. ^^ Hopefully this chapter turned out all right!

(1) Grotesques and Gargoyles are two different things. Gargoyles are built on the sides of cathedrals because the materials that a cathedral is made out of tends to attract water during rain and the gargoyles are used as a kind of drain or spout to direct the water away, whereas grotesques have a more idealistic purpose, in that they are carved to scare evil spirits and the devil away. They are also carved to look mournful because they wish to be closer to heaven and God.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

_Picked the rose one early morn  
I pricked my finger on a thorn  
It had grown so high  
It's winding wove the briar around the rose_

I tried to tear them both apart  
I felt a bullet in my heart  
And all dressed up in springs and clothes  
The briar and the rose  


"_The Briar And The Rose" Tom Waits_

Andie was escorted down the many halls and gardens of the hotel de Saint Pol, to the Prince's apartment. The man who'd greeted them at the door the night before was the one who had fetched her from her aunt. The one called Marcel. In the last hour her aunt had found a suitable dress for her to wear and because she had been in a hurry she'd been given some stupid hat to wear as well. It was like wearing a pail on her head with a few pieces of parchment stuck to it and a veil hanging from the back. The only mercy was that she was able to at least convince her aunt that she couldn't wear the uncomfortable shoes.

As she was brought to a doorway, which served as the only barrier between her and what would most certainly prove to be an extremely awkward dinner they ran into Gage. He had the hint of a nasty smile on his lips. Andie scowled at him.

"Madame. How good to see you again." He said, syrup dripping from his words.

"How good to see you sober, sir." Andie replied nastily. "It is a state I did not expect you capable of." She was glad her aunt wasn't present. She would have paid dearly for that comment. Marcel was still there but he seemed to be unfazed by her rudeness and in fact seemed to take some pleasure in it. Gage did not seem to share the pleasure. He frowned.

"And you seem to be bearing no false tresses. Well done."

"Um, right this way Madame." Marcel said quickly as he opened the door for Andie, glaring at Gage as he did. She stepped inside nervously.

"Mademoiselle Beauvais has arrived your lordship." Bastion was sitting at a table in the center of a very luxurious room. He smiled pleasantly at Andie as she was ushered into the room. In this light he was even more handsome then he had been at the ball, from his lovely curls to his bright green eyes. Marcel pulled out a chair for her and she sat, feeling as if she were trying to balance the foolish hat on her head.

"I was expecting you earlier, my lady." He said as he fingered a glass of wine.

"Sorry…" She said awkwardly, as she eyed her surroundings. The room made even her uncles house look like a shack. It was excessive and finely decorated. Large tapestries hung from the walls. The were massive curtains with golden edging and dozen's of mirrors.

"It's quite all right. I'm sure such beauty takes work." Andie felt a brief moment of shock. She recovered quickly and offered him a weak smile.

"Your too kind." She said, eyeing a servant as he set a delicate glass in front of her and filled it with the slightest touch of wine.

"I am sorry to say that I have no ale. I hope this wine will suffice." He said. She nodded bewilderedly and took a sip of the wine, feeling slightly uncomfortable as his gaze stayed locked on her face.

"I do hope that you'll forgive the indignities of yesterday evening. Captain Gage can at times be a bit insufferable." Bastion said finally.

Andie nodded a little as she set the tiny glass down, feeling as if it was fragile enough to break in her fingers.

"And I hope you and your mother will agree to stay in the Hotel de Saint Pol for a bit longer."

"I…what really?" She asked. He smiled at her.

"Of course, you didn't think I invited you down here just to apologize…I hardly have time for such trivialities."

"No…I imagine not." Andie said, awestruck. "Er…why did you call me here…my lord?"

"Call me Bastion, and I'll call you Isabelle." He said as another servant brought a tray of food. Andie cast a gloomy look at it.

"I called you here because you fascinate me." Bastion said.

"Why?" She asked, somewhat disbelieving.

"There is something…different about you." He said as he scooped a bit of food onto his plate. "It's refreshing." He added.

"Oh…" She replied, unable to think of anything else to say. Different could mean a lot of things. She had yet to experience an occasion where someone meant it as a compliment. There was also something about the way he smiled and the way he sat. It was as if every expression and every word served to mean; 'Lucky you.'

"You know, there are many women who would be very envious of you at this moment." He said, so parallel to her thoughts that for a moment she was afraid her expression had betrayed her impressions of him.

"Oh?" She asked. There was a tiniest flicker in Bastion's face that suggested surprise. Then he laughed.

"Yes, Sweet Isabelle." He said. "I meant of course that they should like to dine with me…privately. Actually I've caught many women here trying to sneak down here just to have a look at me in the process of dining or otherwise." He added.

"That must be…annoying." She said.

"It is. But I suppose I can hardly blame them. I mean to say, that is why you're all here. I suppose I have been selfish in guarding my time." He said while leaning back a little. Andie gave him another weak smile and wondered vaguely how long dinner was likely to be.

XXX

Quasimodo was leaning on the parapet on the top most tower of the Notre Dame watching as the sun set in the west. He had retreated up there an hour prior and his eyes, during that time had never left the horizon where the sky made an array of orange and red colors, which then faded into a deep bluish purple. After apparently coming to a decision he sighed deeply and headed back down the stairs into the tower. Silently, he removed a small clay vase from one of the hanging shelves. He tipped the contents out onto the table. A few coins spun and fell on its surface. In his lifetime Quasimodo had made little money. What he had acquired had been found, or given to him by Clopin at Esmerelda's insistence when he did the man favors.

Quasi scooped the coins up before grabbing his cloak and making his way to the stairs.

After leaving the Notre dame he limped in the direction of Rue St. Martin with his head down. The streets had for the most part cleared out. The few people who had not returned home or were in the process of removing their goods from the street cast him brief glances of wariness or curiosity. He tried to ignore them. In normal circumstances he might take back roads to avoid unwanted attention, but he thought that might take too much time. Most likely the Dyer's shop wouldn't even be open.

As he walked he caught sight of a young couple sitting on the edge of a bridge, apparently fairly absorbed in one another. Quasimodo felt a brief stirring of longing before he stifled it bitterly. The young woman caught his gaze and giving him an angry scowl said a few words that one might think a young woman such as her shouldn't know before grabbing the nearest thing she could find to throw at him. (The nearest thing turned out to be her young man's hat, which he had to go and fetch afterwards) Quasimodo looked away quickly and limped the rest way across the bridge at a faster pace.

When he got to the Dyers shop he halted outside the door nervously. There was a slight glow coming from inside either from candles or from the fire where the glass was heated in the glassblowing shop. After taking a deep and somewhat shaky breath he stepped forward and knocked on the wood of the door as politely as he could perhaps in the hope that if he knocked quietly enough no one would answer.

He heard raised voices from inside, the subject of which was muffled from where he was standing and then heavy footsteps and Herve answered the door, swinging it open as if he had a personal grudge against it and stood in it's frame with a stained apron hanging over his shoulder.

"I told you, you can't throw hot glass at your brother, regardless of how little he's improving!" He shouted over his shoulder. "I swear if he is unable to work I'll be certain to beat you black and blue."

When he saw Quasimodo he frowned a little.

"I'm closing up, hunchback, come back in the morning."

"I-I was just hoping t-to ask you a question." Quasi said before the big man could shut the door in his face. Through the crack, Herve's youngest son, who was sitting at the table with his older brother standing nearby, craned his neck to watch the hunchback and his father.

Herve stared at Quasimodo for a moment with frustration before subsiding a little.

"Yes what?"

"Erm, I-I've been wondering about glassblowing." He started. Herve raised his eyebrow. "I-I-I've wanted to try it for some time. I mean, I've seen it done before…and I…"

"It takes a lot of training and many years under a master of the art to become a professional glass blower, Quasimodo. You're wasting your time."

"W-well I-I really had no intention of becoming…"

"My boy Meryle's been in practice for over a year and he's done nothing but make a rather sad vase and burn his hands and I hardly have the time or money to waste on _you_." He said while indicating his son behind him. The boy frowned at his father's back.

"I wasn't really asking for…I mean I was just wondering if you could show me how to get started…I could pay you…" He said miserably, while offering the man the coins.

"It'd waste too many of my materials. I suggest you go back to your wood carving Quasimodo." Herve said, with a bit more kindness. "I'm afraid it takes a skilled and careful hand to blow glass." Quasimodo watched sadly as Herve closed the door, shaking his head a little. The hunchback sighed and looked at the coins in his hand before turning and limping away from the door.

Meryle waited until his father moved into the other room before he got up from the table and headed for the door. He opened it slightly and watched the hunchback's retreating figure. After casting another nervous look behind him to ensure his father was not around, he pushed the door open and heading after him.

"Hey wait, you." He said. Quasimodo blinked and turned, a little surprised. Meryle halted, feeling slightly uncomfortable as the hunchback's attention fell on him. Close up the man was severely ugly, his face a permanent grimace. Meryle swallowed.

"You buy paints from dad?" He asked finally. Quasimodo nodded a little, wearing a guarded expression. "You made that chess set." He added after a moment. "It's really good…" Quasimodo didn't know what to say to this, so he kept silent.

Meryle shuffled his feet awkwardly and then after casting a brief nervous glance over his shoulder turned towards Quasi again.

"If you come back tomorrow evening I can show you how to blow glass. I'm not that good at it, but I do know a little." He said this quickly, as if afraid that he might lose his nerve. Quasimodo blinked in surprise.

"Y-you'll help me?" He said. Meryle nodded, a little cautiously, he had only ever seen the Hunchback when he was buying materials for paints from his father. Apart from this he heard all sorts of rumors about him. He'd heard that he wondered around on rooftops in the night, that he'd thrown a man from the Notre Dame, a previous judge no less and was occasionally seen in the church speaking to the statues. From somewhere he had heard that Quasimodo communed with witches and that he'd never had parents but rather had been a spawn of the devil and that the church had taken him in, in the hopes of diminishing his evil.

Meryle wasn't sure what to think about Quasimodo. He certainly looked like a monster, but he'd never seemed particularly vindictive.

"It'll have to be late though…after sunset. During the day I work for my father." Meryle said after a moment. Quasimodo nodded. Meryle turned to hurry back inside.

"T-thank you." Quasimodo said from behind him, with such genuine gratitude that the boy paused. He turned back to the Hunchback and nodded briefly before running back into the Dyer's shop.

XXX

For the most part the dinner went on uncomfortably. At one point Bastion had pointed out to Andie that she had a very healthy appetite for a lady. Andie, who had only taken a few bites of something, decided that either most ladies were starved half of the time or else they got very good at sneaking food off of their plate when no one was looking. Nevertheless it made eating anything in front of him highly uncomfortable. Eventually she settled for just sipping at the wine while she listened to him talk. And ye gods did he talk.

She found herself repeatedly snapped out of her thoughts whenever he addressed a question to her. One of those moments happened now.

"Pardon?" Andie asked. She had been staring at a tapestry and wondering if it had been the work of some bored noblewoman with nothing else to do with her time. It featured some religious scene and was painfully dull. Andie found herself thinking of the discarded statues in the Bell Tower at the Notre Dame. Why was it that she felt more drawn to them in their sad state then this colorful piece of tapestry on this magnificent wall?

Bastion gave her a strange smile as if he were trying to figure her out before repeating himself.

"I asked if you've ever been in the city for the Feast of Fools?"

"The Feast Of Fools?" He chuckled. For some reason this irked her a little. It was like the casual chuckle of an adult dealing with an ignorant child.

"I'm not surprised. I imagine your father felt it unnecessary for a young woman such as yourself to visit the city for such a licentious event. It's really for the peasants. Nevertheless I'm expected there this year. Perhaps you'll join me. I would not lower myself to walk amongst the people of course. I'll have a magnificent tent up. Also I'm having some actors coming in for a play. Ordo Virtutum. Have you ever heard of it?"

She had actually. Her uncle had had a copy of the script in his library and she'd read through some of it. As far she could tell it was about the Human soul. Sh eopened her mouth to say this, but he interrupted her before she could.

"I imagine not. Forgive me; I forget you probably did not have the education I had. Nevertheless I'm sure it shall be interesting. It's about virtues…" Andie smiled wanly and then sat back in her chair with a sigh as he continued.

XXX

Later, after the dinner was over, Marcel escorted Andie back to her room. She changed out of the clothing she was wearing as well as the hat, donning instead a rather worn long sleeved chemise. Then she lit a candle in the fireplace, grabbed her cane and headed down to the kitchen.

When she got there Faye smiled at her.

"So, how did the dinner go? As well as the ball?"

"I don't know. All right I guess. Do you have anything left over? I've barely eaten anything all day." She said as she sat down on a wooden stool. Fay passed her a bit of bread and some chervis (Parsnip Pie) Andie dug into it hungrily.

"Brandy?" Faye asked and poured her some after Andie nodded.

"Noblemen don't know how to eat." Andie said after she'd gotten several mouthfuls in. "At least the ladies don't."

"Not around the men in any case." Faye said with a smile. "They would prefer them not to speak either."

Andie scoffed before taking a long drink of brandy.

"It's all right, he did enough talking for the both of us…not that I'd know what to say to begin with. How did Isabelle like the lenten slices?"

"She took a bite and threw the bowl at Alain. No raisins and I guess I let the bread sit too long." Andie sighed and then continued to eat in silence for a bit.

"What's the Feast of Fools?" She asked after a moment after she'd finished the portion of pie she'd been given and had drunk most of the brandy.

Faye smiled a little dreamily.

"It's an annual festival. They throw a damn fine one here in Paris too. I remember me and my husband used to go every year."

"Lord Bastion mentioned it." Andie said.

"It's a festival for people like us. Peasants get all of the power, thieves run around the street without any trouble from guards, and they elect a King of Fools, the ugliest man in the city to parade around as their king for the day. People wear masks and dance in the streets and there's usually a bonfire and a maypole and juggling and people roasting great big pigs on spits…lots of beer too…good beer." She smiled, apparently assaulted by memories of the past.

Andie leaned on the counter.

"They throw one here every year?"

"Oh yes. Coming up in about a week too…on the 6th of January. I don't suppose we'll be here long enough though." Andie shrugged a little.

"Lord Bastion said he wanted us to stay a bit longer. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing something like that. I wouldn't want to see it with _him though_. He was talking about sitting in a tent."

"Oh, it's not for his type. The nobleman come, but sometimes I think its just to make sure people don't get carried away with the idea of being equals for a day. They don't take it seriously. You're really going to see him again?"

Andie frowned and gave her a sideways look.

"I have to until Isabelle gets better."

"What does your aunt think she's going to do, swap you for her and hope he can't tell the difference? She's got seven stone on you."

"I'm not sure." Andie said with a sigh. "Still, I wouldn't mind staying a bit longer." She said. "I may never get another chance to see a festival like that again…at least not one so grand anyways."

XXX

Okay, well hopefully I can keep up this pace for a while…if not a little better. I'm finally getting to the point of the story where build up will no longer be necessary. Once I get to the Feast of Fools (Maybe after the next chapter) the rest of the story is going to go pretty fast and A LOT is going to happen in a short time…then maybe I can get to a bit of fluff. Anyways thanks to those people who are reading the story and thank you EmoGypsy for your review! ^^


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen:

_Little blossom, shining in the sun_

_ Without anyone to love you_

_ What will you blossom into_

_ Without anyone to hold you_

_ How will you grow?_

_ "Blossom" Ryan Adams_

Quasimodo was lying on his back. He felt the awkward hump of his spine against the wood floor of the bell tower. Above him somewhere were the gaping mouths of the bells, now silent and swallowing his gaze. When they sang they shook the whole tower and filled it with life but it was just nearing sunrise and at night the tower slept.

He hoisted his twisted body into a sitting position and eyed the belfry warily. Here and there he could make out shapes in the scant light such as the claws and horns and wings of gargoyles and grotesques, the empty eyes of saints, broken spires and columns.

He must have fallen asleep at some point in the night. He remembered returning to the bell tower after going to the dyers shop the previous evening and sitting on the wood floor to mix up some paint. A nearby a candle that had been reduced to a waxy puddle confirmed that yes this was the case.

_The dyers shop. _Quasi thought. He groaned. The night before he'd told himself that just because he was going to try to make something for Andie, didn't mean he actually had to give it to her. Technically she didn't have to know about it at all. Now he had a knot in his stomach though. Even admitting to himself that he had feelings for her was something of a tragedy.

Frollo would have said that even dreaming about pleasures brought on by the opposite sex was dangerous to ones immortal soul and that it was nearly as bad as acting on them. Quasimodo didn't have much experience with this sort of thing…even in his dreams, but he could see how even thinking that there might be a chance…it was foolish. Granted, his imagination generally shut down at the merest notion of any sort of physical contact, mostly out of self-defense.

He sighed heavily as he stood up and headed down a ladder toward the tangled curtain that hid his bed. There he shed his clothing. He shivered in the early morning chill as he fished a shirt and tights out of his belongings. As he dressed he kept his gaze ahead of him, resting on the large stone hand where another candle sat, while his red hair hung in his eyes.

When he was younger, nine maybe ten, it was hard to keep track of time, Frollo had told him that gazing upon his body was a sin, because God had chosen to make him in the image of a demon because of the crimes of his wicked mother. Quasimodo no longer believed most of what Frollo had said, but he still averted his gaze from his own body and reflection. It was just for quite different reasons. He remembered the first time he'd seen his reflection. He shivered again, this time it was not because of the chill.

After he dressed he rang the bells and then headed down into the cathedral to replace the candlesticks in the church. There were very few people praying at the benches and one or two of them were priests.

He finished underneath the rose window where Maria stood. By then the sun had grown bright, and because of this the stained glass was giving off a large multifaceted reflection. After he removed the melted candle ends and replaced them with the fresh ones he sat down at the base of the statue and removed one of the white lilies in the vase that rested near Maria's bare feet. He held it up to the light for a moment and admired it as it took on the colors of the stained glass.

"Hey. Good morning." Quasi jumped. Pheobus leaned on one of the pillars with a smile. He looked vaguely amused. "What are you doing?"

"I-I was just…replacing the candles." Quasimodo replied guiltily as he gently placed the lily back into the vase.

"Ah, I went up to the bell tower and you weren't there. Figured you were doing some chore." He seemed to remember something and reached towards his belt. He pulled out a stricken puppet. It seemed to be missing its head. "Clopin sent me down here with this. I guess he got a little carried away or something…I don't know." Quasi took the puppet from him and eyed it wearily.

"Honestly I think he was trying to get rid of me. Esme's practicing her dance for the festival and he thinks I'm getting in her way." He added. "If you don't want to fix it…"

"I can fix it." Quasimodo interrupted as he turned it over in his massive hands.

"All right. I know the festival's getting pretty near and Esme told Clopin not to bother you if you were busy…"

"I-Its all right." There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Pheobus spoke again.

"It should be a good one this year. The Feast of Fools I mean. I hear the butcher has a huge pig he's going to roast and there should be no end to ale. The play might not go over too well, but at least Clopin's puppet show should be mildly entertaining. I just hope Bastion doesn't take it too seriously. The last thing we need is a bunch of gypsies being put in the stocks over a play."

"Would they do that during the festival?" Quasimodo asked.

"I think _he_ might." Pheobus eyed Quasimodo for a moment before his stormy expression was replaced once more with his usual playful fascia. "In any case, it'll be a good one to go to. And you wont have to worry about Frollo this year. So…are you going to ask your friend to come?" There was a brief flash of panic in Quasimodo's eyes before he stood from the base, taking the headless puppet and the old candle ends with him.

"I-I don't know." He said. In fact, he hadn't thought about it.

"You should." Pheobus said with the hint of a smile. "I'm sure she'd probably enjoy it. Oh right, Esme told me to ask you if you'd like to come down to the Court Of Miracles tonight. There'll probably be indefinable stew and you can watch Esme's dance…you know…before she does it at the festival." Quasimodo frowned a little.

"I uh…I have a lot of chores to do tonight." He said quietly, while thinking of the glassblowing lesson.

"Can't you put them off till tomorrow?" Pheobus asked. It was generally his impression that Quasimodo tended to do most of the things Esmerelda asked him to do.

"I…no…it's…I can't. Sorry." He added as he headed towards the nearest stairway. Pheobus opened his mouth to say something else and then shut it again.

"Hmm…ok..." He said a little bewilderedly.

XXX

Later that morning, at the hotel de saint pol, Andie went about her chores moodily. Adeline had expressed to her how important it was to keep herself from being seen by important people while Isabelle was still recovering, in case they recognized her, even without the makeup and fine clothes, so she was wearing a scarf over her hair had her hood was pulled up. Currently she was walking down to the well to draw water for Isabelle's bath. Alain and Charlotte were trailing after her, each carrying their own bucket.

"If Bastion marries you, will you be a princess?" Charlotte asked as Andie set one of her buckets down at the side of the well and began lowering the other into the water.

"He's not going to marry me. This is only temporary until Isabelle gets better." Andie replied, not taking her eyes off of the darkness of the well.

"But what if he falls in love with you? Ooh wouldn't that be romantic!" Charlotte said, her eyes lighting up. Alain kicked at a stone and said nothing, but he did cast his sister a brief, dark look.

"He doesn't even know me Charlotte. He thinks _I'm_ her." Andie replied.

"Oh but you could live in a great big castle and have lots of servants to draw your bath and wash your clothes and all you'd have to do is sit around and drink wine." Andie pulled the first bucket out of the well with a gloomy smile and started to lower the second.

"I'd rather not be completely useless if it's all the same." She replied. "Besides I don't really like wine." After the second bucket was filled she reached out toward Alain who handed her his bucket quietly. Andie smiled at him. "Isabelle's more suited for that kind of thing." She continued. "I think I'd go mad doing nothing all of the time."

"Well, you must at least admit, Lord Bastion would make a wonderful husband. He's so handsome. Even Faye said…well I didn't understand most of it…but I do know that she rather likes…" Charlotte lowered her voice at this point. "…his backside." She blushed and giggled.

"I think it's probably a blessing you don't understand most of the things she says." Andie said with a grunt as she set Alain's bucket on the ground. The water sloshed back and forth. "I'm not all that worried about marriage Charlotte. Hand me your bucket." She added.

"Well _I_ want to get married. And my husband shall be quite handsome." She said dreamily.

"I don't think he's very handsome." Alain mumbled bitterly.

"Well you don't know anything." Charlotte replied. "I think he's the most handsome man I've ever seen."

"Well then Charlotte, you can dress up as Isabelle and dine with him then." Andie said as she handed Alain one of the filled buckets. "…and I'll go and do more productive things. Walk slowly, try not to spill." She added as she handed Charlotte another bucket and picked up the other two.

"Why don't you want to marry him?" Charlotte asked after a moment as they headed back to the hotel de Saint pol. "If I were you I would and then I'd tell Miss Isabelle to fetch her own water." Andie smiled wanly.

"I think perhaps, you're a little young to understand. But one thing I _can_ tell you is that there are more important things for a man to have other then a nice backside."

XXX

Much later, after Isabelle had had her bath and Andie had fed the horse and cleaned the stables she walked down to the servants quarters quietly. Alain had gone down to Adeline's room to light her fireplace and Charlotte was helping Faye with dinner. (Or rather she was sitting near Faye while the older women worked and occasionally told her not to touch things.) Andie peaked into the room where Alain and Francois were staying with some of the other male servants to check to make sure the old man was there. The room was empty. Andie sighed.

She closed the door and went looking for him. She tried the hallways with the tapestries first and then began searching the rooms, while trying to remain as surreptitious as possible. A couple of people gave her some weird looks but for the most part they left her alone.

Eventually she found him in an empty storage room on one of the upper floors. It looked like it might have once been a bedroom, hence the now closed off dumbwaiter on one of the barren walls. It was covered in old tapestries and furniture that had probably been pushed up from other places in the massive building. There were also wooden boxes cluttered around stone supports. Francois was sitting on one of the boxes and having a conversation with a tapestry that had been draped over a nearby chair. Andie eyed it briefly before approaching the older man.

"What are you doing up here, Francois?" She asked.

"Ah, Emily. I was just complimenting Miss Dubois on her lovely house. Have a seat and join us for wine."

"Er…I think I'll pass. You should get back to your room, or at least go down to the kitchen with Faye." She said as she helped him up.

"Oh all right." He said, before bowing to the tapestry. "So lovely to see you again."

"You know this is such a nice old house." He said as he followed her out into the hall"We used to have a big dumbwaiter like that one where I worked as a boy. We hid in it and we'd pull each other up and down…or we'd wait up in one of the rooms and when the master's meals came up we'd spit in his wine."

"I don't think this place could really be called a house. Why'd you spit in his wine?" Andie asked.

"He was a louse. Course eventually they caught us and beat us, but it took a while and he'd sure drunk his share of wine by then." He laughed a wheezy sputtering laugh. Andie gave him a vague smile.

Once Francois was back in his and Alain's room Andie returned to her own.

She took some flint and steel and went to the fireplace. After a spark caught and the fire was crackling and giving off a warm glow she headed over to the dresser and pulled out a bundle of cloth. She unwrapped it and removed the book that Sargent had given her when she left the hospice.

Andie sat down on the edge of the bed and flipped through the pages absently. A couple of the pages were marked. Some of them by Sarge, probably back when he'd still been able to see. Other's she had done herself. She stopped at a page that featured an ink drawing of the bells at the Notre Dame. There were a few tiny markings beside them, measurements and such.

Andie smiled a little and skimmed over the spidery writing carefully before walking over towards the window, book still in her hand and eyeing the horizon where the Notre Dame stood for real. As if on cue the bells began to ring. After a thoughtful moment she grabbed her cane and pulled on her boots. She wrapped the book back up and tucked it in her apron before heading towards the door.

She nearly ran into Charlotte on her way out.

"Hey, sorry." The girl said. "Faye says she needs you in the kitchen right away." Charlotte paused. "Were you going somewhere?" She asked as she eyed Andie's cloak and cane curiously.

"I was just…I mean I thought I might…nothing never mind. Tell her I'll be right down."

Charlotte nodded and hurried off. Andie hung her cloak back up by the window morosely. She eyed the battered cover of the book as she set it back on the dresser with a sigh.

"Another time then." She said under her breath.

"Good afternoon Miss Beauvais." Andie jumped and spun around. She frowned when she saw Captain Gage standing in the doorway.

"It isn't Miss should know." Andie said as she grabbed her cane again and circled around him. "Good afternoon." She added cynically. He followed after her as she walked down the hallway. Andie groaned inwardly.

"Very well then, how shall I address you madam?"

"What do you want?" Gage's slightly condescending smile faded a little.

"You could try being civil."

"If I see someone whose worth the civility then I shall." She said quietly, though not so quietly that he could not make it out.

"Well, since you ask I am a little curious as to why you and your mistress insist on continuing this charade. His lordship doesn't have the best temper. At this point you'll be lucky merely to be turned away."

"Why haven't you told him then?" Andie asked while trying to keep ahead of him despite her aching leg.

"It isn't my business anymore. The Duke sent Marcel to make sure Lord Bastion gets married. It isn't my fault if he's bad at his job."

"Well then why are you bothering me?" Andie said as she finally reached the door to the kitchen.

"I suppose I was just extending some courtesy. I know the concept might be foreign to you."

"How kind of you." Andie said darkly as she shut the door firmly behind her. Gage scowled at it as it nearly swung into his face.

XXX

After finishing all of his chores, Quasimodo spent much of the rest of the afternoon attempting to paint the carved houses in his model of the city. It was far more difficult then usual because his hands kept shaking. Occasionally he looked up past the rafters at the increasingly fading sunlight. Finally, when it had dwindled to a glow, he stood and pulled his dark green cloak over his shoulders and grabbed a lantern that was handing on a hook on the wall. He lit it with one of his candles and headed towards the stairs.

XXX

Meryle had been stoking the fires in the furnace for the past hour. He'd also set out all of the tools him and his brother used for glassblowing. Now he was pacing around the warm room nervously. He massaged his gloved hands, which had become quite sweaty beneath the fabric, and eyed the doorway that led into the dyers shop with somewhat frantic.

He peered through it. He could see into the room on the far side where his brother had fallen asleep. Technically he didn't have to look, on account of his thunderous snoring, but he still felt the need to make certain. His father had closed shop an hour prior and had gone out with a friend of his to the tavern. He hoped dearly that his father would stay out a long time.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a point of light through the window, on the dark street of Rue St Martin. It was a lantern. He scrambled to the door and opened it a crack before the hunchback could knock.

"Go round the side. There's another door." He said in a harsh whisper while motioning to his right. He shut the door again and swallowed heavily. "I'm insane. I'm insane. My dad is going to beat me when he finds out…" Meryle whispered to himself as he moved back towards furnace room. "I'm teaching the one eyed devil how to blow glass and I'm insane." This name he'd actually heard from some of the children on the street, on those few occasions when he wasn't working for his father or brother. It perhaps said something for Meryle's character that he felt a pang of guilt for using it.

The door into the glassblowing shop had been open. Meryle returned to the room in time to see Quasimodo enter it uneasily. He was wearing a hooded cloak. When he came through the door he blew the lantern out and set it down, but did not lower his hood, possibly out of shame, or maybe he kept it on for Meryle's benefit.

Meryle eyed him warily. In the meager light the hunchback cast strange shadows and the glow hit his face in a frightening way, setting off the many folds and creases in his visage. The hood actually almost made it worse. Meryle swallowed and motioned for Quasimodo to sit, afraid that if he spoke his voice would betray his trepidation. In all of the occasions where the hunchback had come to his father for supplies it had been daytime. Quasimodo seemed much more frightening at night.

"Er, I'll um…I guess I'll show you how to get started." He picked up a blowpipe with a shaky hand and neared the furnace. "Take the other pipe. Be careful with it." He added the last while casting a brief nervous look at Quasimodo's huge hands.

"To get liquid glass you put limestone and sand and ash in very hot fire. We keep this furnace going usually." He said, awkwardly, while avoiding eye contact. Quasimodo picked up the second pipe with a gentle hand and watched Meryle patiently as he stuck the pipe into the lip of the oven.

XXX

At the same time in the Hotel de Saint Pol Bastion was playing chess with a rather luckless guard, who was having a difficult time finding moves that he could make without taking out any of the Prince's pieces. It didn't help that he had Marcel glaring at him every time he moved his hand over the wrong piece nor that Theobald was sitting on the other side of him giving him tips, apparently oblivious to his struggle. The chessboard was large and like everything else in the room extremely extravagant. The pieces seemed to be made out of some king of marble. The prince's pieces were jade colored.

Captain Gage sat by a nearby window morosely and watched the game with boredom.

"I trust your dinner went well yesterday evening, milord?" Marcel said while jabbing the prince's opponent in the back to call his attention to the fact that he was about to make a decent play. The guard quickly altered his move.

"Quite well. I should like to see more of Miss Beauvais." Bastion replied. Gage make a grunting noise from his place by the window, before Marcel could answer. The man gave him a sharp look.

"Do you have a qualm Captain Gage?" He asked while looking at the man as someone might look at a cockroach.

"There are many pretty women here. I just don't see what her attraction is."

"Oh? And what is the matter with her?" Bastion asked, without looking up.

"Among _other_ things, that woman has no manners." Gage replied.

"Certainly not for you." Bastion said irately. "She is a little odd, I admit but there's something fascinating about her. And besides, there's nothing like marriage to tame a difficult woman."

"Well said milord." Said Marcel. Gage frowned.

"I don't mean to speak out of turn, Lord Bastion but perhaps you should spend some time in the company of another woman before you talk of marrying _this one_." He said the last two words with venom on his tongue.

Bastion waved him away wearily.

"It's your move." He said to the guard, who was staring at the board so intensely that his vision had begun to blur.

"Er…yes lord."

"You take much too long and yet your moves have been dreadful. Perhaps strategy is not his strong point."

"I guess not, lord." He said while moving a pawn to what was likely the only place on the board that wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Although we find your opinion most enlightening captain," Marcel continued as the Prince prepared to move his knight. "You must remember that his majesty does not have much time. He can hardly see every girl. In fact, it may be wise to start sending some of them away." He said, with some inflection.

"Yes, do so." The Prince responded absently. "Perhaps Mistress Leveque and Gravois. Master Gravois is practically a peasant and Miss Leveque's nose puts me in the mind of a snout."

"I think they're both rather prettier then Miss Beauvais." Gage mumbled, although not quietly enough to not be heard.

"If you like girth." Bastion countered.

"Strong child bearing figures." Marcel corrected. "But it is your decision. I will send a servant to give them the news directly." Bastion nodded in an offhand manner, while examining the chessboard.

"Checkmate. It appears you've lost." He said as he took out the guard's king. The guard smiled with nervous relief. It had been all he could do not to direct the Prince to the right spaces. "Perhaps next time." He said while he motioned for the man to clear things up.

XXX

I intended for this chapter to be done much sooner. I'm finally on summer break but the first few weeks have been rather strange. It seems to have finally settled down so hopefully from now on I'll be able to update regularly. Also, I've started taking my computer to work again (I'm actually there now) and I have a lot of down time during my shifts so about the only thing I can do is read or write.

This chapter is kind of filler, which is another thing I'm sorry about. There will be one, maybe two more chapters before the feast of fools then after that A LOT will happen and the rest of the story should actually go pretty quickly.

Anyways I hope it turned out all right. Thank you for the reviews. I really appreciate it. : )


	15. Chapter 14

Edit: I moved this story from the books section to the movies section. When I started this I had it set up in the movie section but at the time it was like...the only fic there. A fellow writer informed me that much of the fics for the Disney movie were located in the books section, so I moved it. It appears that this section has grown a lot over the last couple of years though, so I'm moving it back here. :) It's good to see this section has grown. Hopefully this doesn't mess with the people following the story.

Chapter 14

_I'm just a dreamer but I'm hanging on  
though I am nothing big to offer  
I watch the birds, how they dive in then gone  
it's like nothing in this world's ever still_

and I'm just a shadow of your thoughts in me  
but sun is setting, shadows growing  
a long cast figure will turn into night  
it's like nothing in this world ever sleeps

oh sometimes the blues is just a passing bird  
and why can't that always be  
tossing aside from your birches crown  
just enough dark to see  
how you're the light over me

"The Dreamer" The Tallest Man on Earth

Esmerelda walked over the cobbles toward the Notre Dame, her ankle bracelets jingling softly with every step. It had been three days since Pheobus had come down to the church with Clopin's beheaded puppet and had extended to Quasi the invitation to come and watch her rehearse the dance she was going to do for the quickly approaching Festival of Fools. Because of how busy she was, preparing for the festival, she hadn't had time to visit the hunchback since he'd turned down the invitation. She slipped into the candlelit interior of the church, the smooth tiles feeling cool to her bare feet, and after a brief glance around, smiled a little and approached the cloaked sweeping figure standing under one of the large stained glass windows.

Quasimodo didn't see her and started a bit when she touched his shoulder.

"Oh, h-hello Esmeralda," he said, while giving her a tired smile.

"Good morning Quasi, I just wanted to check in on you, see how you were doing. I haven't seen you since you came down to the bridge the other night,"

"Oh yes, I-it's nice to see you," he said as he turned back to his sweeping. He had gotten a late start on his chores and was running a little behind. "H-how is your dance coming along?" He added after a moment.

"It's going well, it still needs some practice, of course."

"I'm sure it will be wonderful, you always dance so well," Quasi said shyly. Esmerelda smiled but a touch of concern mingled with her expression of warmth. He looked exhausted. It was admittedly difficult to see any change in his bad eye, but today even his good eye had a deep circle under it and both looked slightly red as if irritated.

"Are you okay Quasi?"

"Hmm? Oh, sure…f-fine…just…a-a little tired."

"Pheobus said you couldn't come down to the Court of Miracles the other night because of your chores…you're not working too hard are you?"

"Oh, no, n-no it's just, you know…the doorkeeper is still in the stocks. I've been doing his chores too lately…I-its no trouble…" he had started playing absently with his fingers as he spoke. In doing so, Esmerelda noticed something else and startled him into silence by taking his hands.

"Quasi, what happened to your hands?" There were strips of cloth wrapped around nearly every one of his fingers save the thumb and pinky on his right hand. Apart from this there were slight burns on the skin visible between the cloth and on his palms and knuckles.

"N-nothing, it…it was an accident…" he said while pulling his big hands away from her awkwardly. "It's not that bad."

"An accident, how did it happen?" For a moment Quasi underwent an internal struggle between his desire to keep the truth behind the burns and minor cuts to himself and the distaste he felt at the thought of lying to her.

"It was just…a-a mistake…with the candles…" he said while wrapping his bandaged fingers around the broom handle again and sweeping towards one of the portals. Quasimodo was not a good liar. Frollo had always been able to see through any falsehoods he told, however rarely it was. Even the thought of lying to Frollo had always terrified him. In any case he had grown up in a church so lying did not come naturally to him. Esmerelda looked at him doubtfully, but didn't push the subject any further, mainly because she wasn't sure why he would have a reason to lie to her about his hands.

"Why don't you take a break tonight Quasi." She said after a moment, while laying a hand on his cloaked shoulder. "Come down to the Court of Miracles. I'm sure Clopin would be glad to have an expert hand to help him finish painting the backdrop for his puppet show,"

Quasi frowned a little as he swept the dust from the church into the street.

"Oh no, I-I couldn't, I have a lot of things to do... I still have to finish sweeping and replace all of the candles and…there are the bells and well I'm a little behind…" he said while running his fingers through his hair nervously.

"Well, you could come by after sunset…I'm sure you'll be done with your chores by then…"

"I…don't…m-maybe a little later in the week."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Esmerelda asked again, wearing that slightly protective look, reserved for him.

"Sure. I…I should get back to my chores." Quasi said while motioning towards his broom.

"All right…if you change your mind…you know you're always welcome Quasi."

"Thank you," he said before heading back into the candlelit darkness of the church. Esmerelda stood on the flagstones for a moment, eyeing the portal with concern before she turned and headed back towards the Court of Miracles.

Quasimodo leaned against the wall with a sigh before heading towards a nearby stairway and limping up to the bell tower. He began to remove the wraps on his fingers as he did. The cuts they were covering were really not too bad. He'd only wrapped them because the lye had stung when he had been washing the statues earlier that morning. The burns were also pretty mild but were causing him more trouble. After he'd returned from his glassblowing lesson the night before, he had soaked his hands in rainwater for a while, which had eased the irritation at the time. Unfortunately it hadn't helped in the morning when he'd rung the bells. His hands had long become callused from years of using them for climbing and the constant contact with ropes and carving instruments, but a burn was a burn. And the rope had rubbed up against the burns on his palms unpleasantly.

He leaned on the balustrade overlooking the city for a moment while rubbing absently at the cuts on his fingers. Not for the first time in the last few days he wondered what he thought he was doing. Even if he did get to the point in his glassblowing lessons where he could actually successfully craft well enough to produce something worthwhile, what then? Supposing she was even still there in the city, he doubted that he could actually give it to her…

That's why, even though he hated lying to Esmerelda, he didn't feel comfortable mentioning the glassblowing lessons. He'd prefer that no one know about them.

He parted from the ledge and grabbed the stopper, leaning against one of the many cluttered walls in his own private sanctuary. A set of bells rang softly as the stopper nudged them.

XXX

Fay was in the kitchen of the Hotel de Saint Pol in the midst of preparing Blank-mang. Charlotte was helping her and it was for that reason that the preparation of the dish was taking twice as long as it normally did.

Fay sighed as she heard a distinct squeal from the direction of the counter where Charlotte was supposed to be grinding the almonds. She'd specifically given the girl the task because there was no chance of her burning or breaking anything.

Fay took a swig of ale for her nerves and then leaned one large elbow on the counter so that she could look down at the girl, who was sitting on a stool and looking distressed.

"What now, Charlotte?"

"Oh the pestle slipped from my hand and rolled beneath the stove! I was just getting the hang of the almonds too!"

"I'll find you another, but try not to drop this one, all right." Some relief touched her features as Andie shouldered her way into the kitchen, removing a scarf from her hair as she did.

"Gave your aunt the slip, did you?"

"Something like that. Actually I came damn close to running into Bastion this morning in the stables. I don't know how she expects everything to get done when she has me sneaking around his lordship and his servants. Plus if I have to undergo one more speech about etiquette I am going to lose my mind."

"Glad to see she hasn't got you speaking like a lady yet in any case. You aren't worried his lordship might wander in here?" Fay asked as she fished another pestle out of the clutter of kitchenware.

"I doubt Lord Bastion has ever seen a kitchen,"

"True, give Andie the mortar Charlotte," she added. Charlotte handed Andie the mortar with the half crushed almonds gratefully.

"I still don't understand how she expects to switch you out with Isabelle once she gets better." Fay said after the younger girl had left.

"I don't know," Andie said with a sigh.

"Heard the doctor was in earlier…what did he say?"

"The swellings definitely gone down, but it may be another week or two before she's back to normal."

Both women looked up as the door was nudged open in a manner that suggested that the one doing the nudging was trying to go somewhat unnoticed. Alain could even open a door apologetically.

"If you were planning on sneaking through here to get to the dumbwaiter again Alain, you had better think twice." Fay said while gesturing toward him with a wooden spoon. "You're supposed to be guarding Francois so we don't have a repeat of yesterday. It took me nearly an hour to convince the fool that the statue in the drawing room wasn't Lord Beauvais." Andie nudged her a little.

"What is it, Alain?" She asked, with considerably more kindness.

"Um, Mistress Beauvais asked me to come down and tell Fay to fetch more plantain for miss Isabelles face."

"Tell her it will have to wait. I'm in the middle of preparing lunch, this capon won't keep that long." Andie had raised her eyebrows a little.

"I can go," she said as she set the ground almonds on the counter. "I've been dying for an excuse to get out of this place for a while."

"You know just the other day your aunt told me I wasn't to send you on any errands outside the hotel de saint pol. Not since the almond milk." Andie's expression darkened slightly. Fay appeared to consider something and then shrugged a little.

"Still, it isn't as if I can physically keep you from going. It isn't any business of mine if you're stubborn enough to go out even after I advised you not to." Andie smiled a little.

"Thank you, Fay."

"Don't know what you're talking about." The older woman mumbled as Andie shouldered her way through the door and headed towards her room to fetch her cloak.

She was careful to avoid attention in the hallway. When she got to the bedroom she pulled her cloak off of the hook on the door and grabbed her cane from where it was leaning in the corner by the window. She was about to exit again when she remembered something and approached the dresser.

Andie picked up the bundle of cloth; concealing the book Sarge had given her and carefully tucked it into the sack she'd grabbed to carry the plantain.

XXX

Quasimodo was quietly replacing the candles in the Nave. Occasionally he tugged at his hood as he tried to avoid the brief glances he was receiving from visitors to the church. As he got to the last row of candles he caught a snatch of whispering from a woman who had been knelt in prayer but was now talking to a man nearby.

"-surprised they allow the creature to walk around in God's house,"

Quasimodo bit his lip but kept his eyes fixed carefully ahead of him as he snuffed out one of the candles, which was nearly burnt down to the base of the holder. He didn't wait for it to cool to remove it and place a fresh candle in its place. Then, with the last row done he limped back towards the entrance, taking a path that would allow him to go mostly unnoticed.

He sat at the base of a statue of Maria with a sigh. He still needed to replace the candles in back of the choir and in the fresco, but decided to wait a few moments until some of the people thinned out. Quasi started to pull some of the melted candles from the bundle of ends and set them aside. These days the archdeacon provided him with full candles, much nicer then the melted down things Quasi had once received from Frollo, but he still kept some of the melted ends. They had thirty minutes to an hour left in them. Because he was so busy during the day, Quasimodo did much of his carving and painting in the evening, so in that way the ends came in handy. He was in the middle of this when a tap on the shoulder startled him for the second time that day.

Much of the candle ends wound up on the floor.

XXX

"I didn't mean to startle you," Andie said, slightly surprised at how fierce his reaction had been.

"I-it's all right," Quasi replied. She leaned in to pick up the candle ends just as he too went for them. In normal circumstances this might have resulted in a brief bump on the head or something of the like, but because Quasimodo was so much bigger then her, she wound up on the floor instead.

"I…I'm so sorry," Quasi said with some horror.

"It's okay," Andie said as she picked up her cane and accepted his proffered hand. "Lets try that again," she added as helped him collect the spilt candles. Quasimodo was silent as they did this. There had been a part of him that was almost relieved by the possibility that she might not even be in the city any longer. Not because he didn't like her…obviously, but because that would have made things so much easier. He could have forgotten about the silliness of making her a gift and these extremely awkward encounters.

"W-what are you doing here…at the…church I mean,"

"I was sent down here to get some plantain from the herbalist…oh and I said I'd bring my book the next time I visited…" she added as she removed the book from the sack hanging over her shoulder, shaking the plantain leaves from it as he did. "…if you'd still like to look at it…"

"Oh…yes…I-I mean…I'm not done…replacing the candles…i-i-it may take a little time…"

"I'm not in much of a hurry," Andie said with a uni-shrug, thinking about the hotel de saint pol.

"O-okay, if you'd like you can wait in the belltower…I-if you still remember the way…I mean."

"All right,"

"Right..I-I'll just…see you…up there…then," he said, groaning under his breath after he turned away from her, mainly due to his own ineptitude.

XXX

Andie took the climb at a slower pace then she might in company. Her leg wasn't hurting her so much today, mainly because she hadn't been forced to walk around without her cane in the last few days, but it was a long way up and she didn't want to push it, especially if her aunt expected her to see Bastion again any time soon. She doubted she'd have to. The dinner had been more of a courtesy.

Still he had mentioned the Festival of Fools. Andie frowned a little at the idea of going to the festival as his guest. Spending the whole thing in a fancy tent…listening to him talk about himself.

She pulled herself up onto one of the lower platforms of the bell tower, eyeing a stone gargoyle, positioned precariously near the edge as she did. It was of course meant to look like a monster and it was grinning. No doubt it was meant to represent some sort of sin or evil, but really…the grin looked more silly then anything, as if it were privy to a private joke, oblivious to the observer.

With a grunt she climbed the ladder up to the main area of Quasimodo's tower. She lowered her cane and stood where she was for a few moments, just eyeing her surroundings. The bell tower had such a strange feeling to it. Peaceful, welcoming, warm but also filled with sadness, covered in forgotten things pushed in dark corners.

So long as she was waiting for Quasimodo anyways, it gave her a chance to look around a bit more. There was something about the clutter and the half corroded statues that she was almost drawn to.

She pressed lightly at a small bell hanging from one of the shelves and smiled a little as it rang softly. Eventually her curiosity led her to a crude stairway…although stairway was not really the correct word. At some point some wooden boards had been nailed into place against a wooden pole and part of the upper platform to made a few basic steps. Andie eyed the bottom of the upper platform before lifting her cane and tossing it lightly up onto the surface. Afterwards she mounted the 'stairs' carefully keeping her eyes on her feet until she reached the top. She scooped up her cane and looked around.

Like the rest of the bell tower it was covered in clutter. In the center of the platform was a massive stone hand. There was a melted candle in the palm. Another hand was being used to secure a shelf loaded with pots, both whole and half broken.

Near the ladder was a mass of blankets. It occurred to Andie that this was probably where Quasimodo slept. Suddenly she felt like she was intruding. She was about to head back down the makeshift stairway when a statue in the back caught her eye.

It was the statue of a woman. One perfectly chiseled hand was held against her robe, the other reaching forward, palm up. At one point the statue must've worn an expression of serenity or charity, but like many of the other statues in the bell tower it was badly damaged. Part of the face was corroded, making it look sad…lost. The lower half had also been broken off. She approached it. It must've once been the statue of an angel. She could see where the wings had been.

A light breeze ran through the tower. On the platform below, Quasi's mobiles danced in the breeze, making small tinkling noises. She was brought out of her thoughts as the multicolored lights set off by the glass danced over the statues face. Andie tore her eyes away from it and edged her way back down to the lower level of the tower.

XXX

When Quasimodo climbed up to the bell tower Andie was examining his model of the city. She was holding the small wooden carving of herself with a slightly strange look on her face. It was a shade darker then her usual expression. When she noticed him she set the figure down and smiled. He leaned the stopper against one of the shelves and approached her cautiously.

"S-sorry you had to wait," he said shyly as she sat down on one of the makeshift benches next to the table.

"It's okay, I like being up here," Andie said as she took the bundle of fabric out of her bag and began unwrapping the book.

"Y-you do…why?" He added after taking a brief look around at the clutter. In his experience the bell tower was cold, dark and drafty this time of year.

"It's…different…quiet…welcoming," she said with a shrug.

XXX

Quasimodo cleared off part of the table where the model stood so that Andie could set the book down on its surface. He sat down next to her with some awkwardness and absently rubbed at his knuckles.

The only books Quasimodo had ever been associated with were religious volumes. Of those, Frollo mostly had picked scriptures dealing with sin and pain and torture and how the unworthy burned in the fires of hell.

This book was considerably different from anything he'd seen. It had a variety of sketches of various buildings and far away places and the text was mostly descriptive paragraphs about how the buildings and structures were built and the cities and towns where they were located.

She showed him the drawings of the Notre Dame, and they were quite lovely, although because Quasimodo had lived there all his life, he was less interested in those pages then some of the others.

"What's this one?" He asked as he placed his finger lightly on one of the pages showing a drawing of a large building with a massive circular roof, quite unlike many of the buildings in Paris.

"The Duomo, It's in Flourence." Andie said as Quasi eyed the text. Frollo's reading lectures had given him a basic grasp of the language, but even being able to read some of the words didn't help with the fact that many of them weren't familiar to him. For instance, he didn't know what the word 'mathematics' meant.

"W-where is Flourence?"

"It's south of here, I think…in Italy. My uncle spent a great deal of money on a map he kept in his library. Here I hath land in Florence, a citee full of arte, whither men doth study numbers and en eventide musick filleth the streets," she said as she read down one of the paragraphs.

"Y-you read beautifully," Quasimodo said shyly. Andie looked up and colored slightly.

"Thank you. I've had some practice with this book. It looks as if the Duomo is a church," she said.

"It's very d-different from the Notre Dame…I would love to carve it," Quasimodo hissed briefly through his teeth. He'd been massaging his fingers and knuckles again, as he often did when nervous and had hit one of the more fresh and sensitive burns. The action caught Andies attention.

"What happened to your hands?"

"N-nothing…I had…some trouble w-with the candles," he said quickly, while removing his hands from the table awkwardly. If the prospect of telling Esmerelda about the glassblowing had made him nervous, it was nothing in comparison to the prospect of telling Andie.

Andie eyed him skeptically. She was more then used to dealing with burns given Charlotte's tendency to find every way imaginable to be destructive, but given the locations of the burns on his hands, he would have almost had to have turned his hands in the flame of a candle in order to cover all of the areas where his flesh was slightly pink.

"They look painful."

"I-I-it's not…a-as bad as it looks," he said. She noticed, once again that his stammering, which had vanished slightly while they had been looking at her book, appeared to be present again.

Andie eyed him curiously before remembering something. She reached into the sack, still hanging over her shoulder and pulled out a few of the slightly wilted plantain leaves.

"Plantain is supposed to be good for relieving burns, your herbalist grows them here,"

"Oh, h-he wouldn't…I-I couldn't ask him to spare any, besides he would say they'd be wasted on me…"

"What?" Andie said, surprised. Granted, the few times she'd met the herbalist, he had seemed rather protective of his garden and somewhat irked by her request for the amount of plantain she'd needed for Isabelle. But it was his job…it was…troubling that he'd actually refuse someone the herbs in his garden just because they were…well different.

"H-he would say I-I'd been clumsy…really they only sting when I ring the bells…I-it's all right." He said, his attention elsewhere, clearly wishing to avoid the subject any further. She eyed him for a moment longer with a frown before removing a few more leaves from the sack.

"Here, I have plenty," he blinked.

"No, no…I-I could't…" he said while gently pushing her hands away.

"My cousin will never notice if a few of them are missing…"

"I…I really…"

"Do you have a hammer or a mallet?" she asked kindly, interrupting his protests. Quasimodo bit his lip and stood, searching briefly through a clutter of small tools on a shelf before selecting one and handing it to her. She laid a couple of the leaves on the table and began to hit them with the hammer. Her aunt had had her do this on the previous occasion she'd fetched the plantain. She'd sat in the kitchen with one of the mallets Fay used to tenderize the meat and had hammered at the large bundle of leaves required to cover the extensive inflammation on Isabelles swollen skin. It had taken some time. Apparently the process released the leaves medicinal juices.

"Give me your hands," she said as she set the hammer aside. Quasimodo hesitated for a moment before extending his hands shyly. He watched, mystified she took one of them and began wrapping the plantain leaves over his burns.

He remembered briefly the time he'd first met Esmerelda when she'd asked him if she could see his hand to read his palm. It had been the first time someone had touched him like that, without fear or revulsion. Andie's hands were a little bigger then Esmerelda's and while hers had been slender and perfect, Andie's were rough and callused, with minor scars and blemishes. He liked the feel of her hands.

At this thought Quasimodo looked away with some embarrassment.

Unaware of his thoughts, Andie couldn't help but study his hands as well. They were massive, easily twice as big as hers. Like much of the rest of him they gave off an air of awkwardness…clumsiness and yet…

As she picked up another of the leaves she'd set aside, Andie looked sideways at the carved houses and people, rich with detail. It had to have taken a very gentle and delicate hand to craft them. She glanced up at him a couple of times as she treated his hands but he seemed determined not to make eye contact and was obviously slightly uncomfortable.

"There, leave them for a couple of hours," Andie said before eyeing the sky, visible through rafters in the belltower. "I should probably get going," she added, with a touch of gloom as he pulled his hands away from her and eyed the leaves quietly.

"A-all right…th-thank you, for…the leaves…a-and for sharing the book," he added as he stood to see her out. She gave him a faint smile.

"Try to be more careful with the er…candles," she said as she wrapped her book back in the old torn fabric again and slipped it back in the sack before standing and donning her cane.

Quasimodo had been thinking about something as he eyed his hands, wearing a slightly pensive expression. He was remembering something Pheobus had brought up the other day.

"Er…A-Andie…" he started, before he could lose his nerve.

"Hmm?" She paused halfway towards the ladder down from the tower.

"H-have you…I mean, are you…th-the Festival of Fools is coming up…soon…in four days…I-its…usually…I mean th-there's a lot of s-singing and dancing a-a-and f-food and drink…w-would…a-are you planning on going?" He said, nervousness radiating off of him as he spoke.

"I heard about the Festival…it sounds…wonderful."

"Oh…I-it is…mostly…Uh A-Aimee is meeting me…here…in front of the church…I-if you were going…I mean if you want to join us…" Andie considered this. It was unlikely that she'd get a chance to see something like The Feast of Fools again. It would be a shame to waste the day at the hotel de saint pol…or if Bastion had been serious, in some tent. It would probably be a bit of a chore to find a way to get out of the house without her aunt noticing, but not impossible. Andie smiled a little, feeling the slightest bit of elation at the idea.

"All right," she said, her eyes bright. "I have a lot of chores in the morning, I couldn't slip away until midday." Quasimodo nodded.

"T-that's fine…" he said, mystified. She gave him another smile and headed once more towards the ladder, leaving Quasimodo standing below his mobiles feeling both exultant and terrified. He ran his hand through his hair after she left as he collapsed onto the bench at his table.

"I must be out of my mind…" he said to the stillness.

XXX

Whoo, I updated and it only took me two years!

Yeaaahhh…for a variety of reasons this fic hasn't really been on my to do list in a while. Still, after receiving a few reviews and a pm recently I decided to pull it up and read through it again. Unlike a lot of the fics I've kind of abandoned, this one was actually pretty extensively planned out…so getting back into it turned out to be a lot easier then I would have expected as I started to remember everything I had planned. Now I want to finish it. I don't know how often I'll be able to update, but I've been in the mood to write lately and I can at least promise that my next update will be considerably quicker then this one was.

Sorry for the wait guys. :)


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